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Chapter Text

The rain slammed onto the gravel outside of Redonovich’s Pizza Parlor on a night in late May, and it was audible for everyone inside the building. 

Inside sat Ricky Bowen, who was leaning over the counter with his head tucked in his arms and a groan escaping past his lips. In front of him stood his best friend behind the counter, Big Red, who had just slid a slice of three meat pizza beside him. 

“You know for someone that’s going to Europe in two days with his friends, you sound depressed as hell.” Howie, one of Big Red’s co-workers chimed in from the back of the kitchen.

Ricky lifted his head, sending a glare in Howie’s direction, “Thanks for reminding me.”

“You’re going to scare away all the customers.”

Ricky looked around the parlor, not seeing a single customer in sight. It was a Tuesday night, just before close, so there wasn’t usually anyone but whoever was closing that night (and Ricky, a loyal attendee of the pizza place). 

“Howie’s just jealous he doesn’t get as great of a senior trip as we do.” Big Red whispered, loud enough for Howie to hear, “his class is going to New York for three days.” 

“Well I get to watch some Broadway shows, so who’s the real winner here?” Howie mumbled to himself as he cleaned the brick-oven.

Both Ricky and Red simultaneously decided to ignore Big Red’s annoying co-worker.

“God, I can’t believe we leave for Europe in two days.” Ricky sighed audibly, picking at the first of his pizza.

“Dude, for real, you need to lighten up. We’re going to be in Europe for ten days. Ten days!” The redhead exclaimed. “We get to eat real pizza, go to bars if we really want to, and maybe meet some European girls and guys…”

Ricky stared up at Big Red, knowing what he was trying to get at, “You had me at pizza. Lost me at meeting new people.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry Ricky but Nini broke up with you over a month ago and the best way to get over her is this trip and some hot European hook up.”

“Yeah, but I think you’re forgetting that Nini is also going on this trip. With Elias nonetheless.”

“Ah, Elias .” Red hummed, pausing, “If she’s moving on with Elias, don’t you think you should move on too?”

“That’s just the thing. Of course I wanted her back before, but now that she’s with someone else it makes me want her even more.” Ricky huffed, leaning back in his chair.

“I heard Nini talking to Miss Jenn and she was basically pleading for her to put Elias in her group for the trip.”

“Shit, really?” Ricky groaned. “God help me if I’m in the same group as them for this trip. When do we even find out what group we’re in anyway?”

“I think tomorrow.”

“Great.” 

“At least we’re rooming together. Imagine if you had to room with EJ or Elias. Now that’d be entertaining.”

“You like seeing me suffer, don’t you?”

“I mean, it would be kinda funny.”

Ricky sneered at his best friend and then averted his eyes down to his half-eaten pizza. 

“You better eat it, Bowen.” Howie said, walking towards the front counter and throwing his dishrag onto his shoulder. 

“I was going to.” 

Howie quirked his eyebrows, “Sure you were.”

Ricky picked up his pizza and took a huge bite out of it, then smiled at Howie. 

Howie rolled his eyes and then turned to Red, “You going to clean or what?”

The redhead put a hand over his chest, “I was trying to cheer my dear best friend and his broken heart up.”

Howie stared at Big Red and then his eyes moved to Ricky, who was slumped in his seat and sadly chewing his pizza. Howie cleared his throat, “How much do you want this Mimi girl back, Bowen?”

Ricky quickly looked up at Howie, halfway through chewing his crust, “It’s–” he began through a mouthful of food, and quickly swallowed, “Nini.”

“Right.” Howie nodded his head, clearly not caring about the name he chose being incorrect. “How much do you want her back?”

The curly haired boy grabbed his napkin to wipe his mouth, “A lot. I can't lose what we had.”

Howie paused and leaned on the counter, “How long were you two together?”

“Almost three years.”

“Why’d she break up with you?” Howie inquired.

“Do you always ask so many questions?” 

“Do you want my advice or not?” 

Ricky frowned, crossing his arms, “She said that she doesn’t want a relationship going into college and we just wouldn’t work long distance. Which still doesn’t make any fucking sense because she’s with Elias now.”

“Well,” Howie started, “if the two of you were together for that long and you had something good, then there’s no way that she could have gotten over you that quick. My guess is that being with this other guy is a way to get over you.”

Ricky sat up straight in his seat, “What do you think I should do?”

Howie looked over at Big Red, then back to Ricky, “Give her a taste of her own medicine. Find someone on your trip who is willing enough to pretend to like your annoying ass and Mimi will come crawling back to you.”

“You want someone to pretend to like Ricky?” Big Red laughed out loud, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“Yeah, you want someone to pretend to like me?” Ricky repeated what his best friend said.

“That is what I said.” Howie shrugged.

“Would that seriously work?” 

“It definitely could.” Howie replied nonchalantly, lifting himself up from the counter and heading back to the kitchen.

Ricky’s lips parted and he looked back up at Big Red, who’s eyes were wide. It’s like the two of them had just been told that ghosts were real. 

“Dude…” Ricky finally said after a few moments, “do you think I should?”

Big Red looked back at Howie in the kitchen then leaned over the counter to whisper, “Well, it is a good idea.” 

“Heard that!” Howie yelled from the kitchen.

“Heard that.” Big Red mimicked. 

Ricky laughed lightly, then looking down at his now empty plate, “I don’t know, man, who would want to spend their entire senior trip to Europe fake dating me?”

“There’s gotta be someone. I mean I totally would, but Nini knows that we’d never get together.”

The brunette stifled a laugh, “I could never hold your hand, Red, I’m sorry.” 

“And I could never hold yours. See? We wouldn’t work.” He stated. “It has to be someone that Nini would never expect you to be with.”

Ricky leaned back in his seat.

“Carlos? Tyler from government class? If you paid him a good sum of money–”

“I’m not paying Tyler from government class to be my fake-boyfriend. And Carlos? There’s no way. Didn’t he and EJ break up a few months ago?” Ricky continued to rack his brain for people who would consider dating him.

“What about Steph Rodriguez? Rico P? Molly Cooper?” Big Red continued rattling off names, “…James, maybe even Ashlyn Caswell if you explained your situation?” 

Ricky groaned, “No, Ashlyn’s too nice I can’t make her do that. And everyone else is a hard no.”

“Well shouldn't it be someone who’s in your group? So it seems like you two are spending all of your time together on the trip?” 

“Shit, you’re right. I have to see who’s in my group in the morning.”

Suddenly, Ricky’s phone buzzed on the counter. He picked it up and noticed a text message from his dad: 

Be home by 1:30. Night!

He looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost 12:30. He hadn’t realized how much time had gone by since he arrived at the shop.

“I should probably get going soon.”

“I gotta lock up.” Big Red lifted himself from the counter, and turned to see Howie putting his hoodie on. “Leaving already?”

Howie laughed lightly, “I did pretty much everything while the two of you were plotting your fake-dating scheme.”

Big Red looked around surprised, “Oh. Well, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I work 3-9.” He nodded, then turned to Ricky, “Will I have the pleasure of seeing you tomorrow?”

Ricky shrugged and sent him a grin, “Depends if you want the company, Martin.”

Howie was halfway out the door, a small smile on his lips, “Well if I don’t see you, make sure your plan doesn’t blow up in your face.”

━━━━━━

Ricky spent the whole night tossing and turning, contemplating this idea of potentially fake-dating someone in order to get Nini back. 

Was it a good idea? No. Yes. Kind of?

Could it work? Maybe.

Could it backfire in some way? Most likely.

But the whole night, on top of this idea of fake-dating somebody, the only thing that Ricky could think about is Nini and Elias. 

Elias Scott is someone straight out of an early 2000s romantic comedy. He’s got it all; an obnoxiously perfect face, the seemingly perfect family life, is the co-captain of the water polo and soccer teams, is at the top of his class, and he has Nini. His Nini. Ricky’s Nini. 

Ricky couldn’t see himself with anybody but Nini Salazar-Roberts. For Ricky, no matter what, it has always been Nini. They met in the third grade when Ricky would chase her around the playground, constantly teasing her and trying to get her attention in any way. Ever since the third grade, they were inseparable. 

They slept over at each other’s houses, went on vacations with each other’s families and spent almost every single day together for years on end. It wasn’t until their sophomore year of high school that Ricky gained the courage to ask her to East High’s homecoming dance. 

The rest was history. Until Nini broke it off a month before they graduated high school. 

So there he was, staring up at the ceiling for what seems like the thousandth time trying to figure out what went wrong with their relationship. What went wrong with him? And what’s right with Elias?

He’s stared up at his ceiling too many times. This time Ricky spent his time conjuring up a plan to play pretend. And hopefully there was someone willing to play along with him. 

It is a bit selfish to ask someone to spend their entire senior trip traveling across Europe pretending to be with him. It is a bit presumptuous to assume that Nini will actually want him back. But, maybe, just maybe it could all be worth it.

Before he knew it, Ricky was being abruptly woken up by his alarm at 6:30. The loud beeping was enough to make Ricky want to throw his phone out the window, so he slammed his finger down on the “Stop Alarm” button and audibly groaned.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking around his room and trying to figure out why on earth he didn’t fall asleep sooner. For one, he left for London tomorrow morning at 11am and he had a 15 hour flight ahead of him. And now he has to go to school.

Ricky was not a morning person. At all. Most days, his dad had to drag him out of his bed to get him to even go to school. And even when his dad dragged him out of bed, he was still late for school. 

He grabbed his phone and sighed. He had a text from Big Red:

Pick me up? Dad needs to take the car in :/ Pls u owe me!

Also if u want to find someone to date you today’s the day! 

Ricky sent him a quick text back and said he’d be there in 15 minutes. He quickly got up, went to the bathroom and freshened up for the day. Once he was done, he grabbed a hoodie and threw on his jeans. 

He was out the door in five minutes and got to his best friend’s house within ten minutes. When he pulled up, Big Red was sitting on his porch steps waiting for Ricky.

He got into the car, stepping on a heap of wrappers and empty pop-cans on the floor of the passenger seat. Ricky didn't have time to clean. Big Red shut the door and threw his skateboard in the backseat, “Dude, you’re actually on time. I’m proud of you.”

Ricky laughed lightly, “Yeah I don’t think it’ll ever happen again.” 

He pulled out of Red’s driveway and headed for the school, “So your dad had to take your car into the shop again?”

Big Red sighed, “Yeah, she’s still not doing good. Making all these weird clunking noises when I'm in reverse and now the back window won’t roll back up. So that’s great. Ugh, I'll probably have to use my new paycheck on repairs.”

Ricky couldn't remember a time where his best friend didn't have car problems.

He snorted, “Dude, you gotta get a new car.”

“Do I look like I’m made of money?” 

“Well I know where a lot of your money is going and it’s not into your car.”

“Rick, without me you’d be paying for your own weed.” 

“And I’m so very thankful for you, Big Red Redonovich the Third.”

The redhead hummed, “That’s what I like to hear.”

The two sat in comfortable silence on their way to school and before they knew it, Ricky pulled into the parking lot of East High.

“Hey, did you decide if you’re going to go through with the plan?” Big Red asked as Ricky pulled into a parking spot.

Ricky parked the car and pulled the keys from the ignition and sighed, “I’m still thinking about it. I feel like I should see who’s in my group first, you know?”

Big Red nodded his head, “Yeah. Good idea. I wonder what group I’m in.”

The two boys got out of the car and headed for the entrance of the school. 

“Bro, I know I already said this, but if I’m in Nini’s group I might just have to–”

“Dude, you’re not going to be in her group. There’s probably 8 groups in total so there’s a slim chance that that will happen.”

“Yeah. You’re right. I shouldn’t be freaking out.”

The two of them walked through the school doors and were met with a bunch of students swarming the halls as usual. They headed for their lockers which happen to be in close vicinity to each other and as they walked someone stopped them.

“Hey guys!” Ashlyn Caswell’s voice cut through their conversation.

They stopped and turned to her.

“Hey Ashlyn.” Big Red smiled warmly.

“Hey.” Ricky greeted.

“Did you guys see the list of groups for the trip yet?” Ashlyn smiled sweetly up at them.

The boys exchanged glances and Ricky turned to her, “No, we didn’t realize that they’d be out before first period.” 

“Well, they’re posted outside of Miss Jenn’s office just so you guys know.”

“Thanks, Ashlyn! See you in physics?” Big Red smiled. 

“Yeah, definitely! See you later, Ricky.” 

They all said their goodbyes and the two boys almost ran to Miss Jenn’s office to see who they’d be spending most of their senior trip with. 

There was a small crowd of people in their grade around the papers posted on the wall and Ricky squeezed his way through them to see who he was paired with.

Both Ricky and Big Red stared at the sheets of paper taped on the wall.

GROUP 3

Jasmine Wright

Ashlyn Caswell

EJ Caswell

Kourtney Greene

Big Red Redonovich

GROUP 5

Nini Salazar-Roberts

Elias Scott

Gina Porter

Carlos Rodriguez

Ricky Bowen

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Ricky muttered under his breath.

“I’m with Ashlyn and EJ! Sick! ” Big Red exclaimed at the same time as Ricky. Immediately Big Red’s eyes wandered down to Group 5 and his mouth made a great big “O” shape.

“This could not be worse, Red.” Ricky tore his eyes from the paper and started to walk down the hallway with his best friend trailing behind him. 

“I cannot watch Nini and Elias being all cuddly and cute doing all the shit we used to do for ten fucking days, man. I can’t–I can’t do it.” He was being a little too loud, but honestly he didn’t care if the whole school could hear him. 

“Did you forget about the plan?” Big Red attempted to reassure him.

Ricky stopped in the middle of the hallway, sighing loudly, “The plan is clearly not going to work! My only two options are Carlos and there’s no way that’s happening and—”

“and Gina Porter!” Big Red chimed in.

“ Gina Porter? Dude, no way! How is she even going on the senior trip? Isn’t she a junior?”

Big Red laughed, “I’m pretty sure she’s graduating early.”

“Oh.” Ricky said. “Well, there’s still no way in hell that I’m going to convince her to do this for me. And plus, Nini hates Gina!”

“Ricky, that’s perfect! It would drive Nini absolutely nuts if she thought that you and Gina were actually a thing.” He said. Big Red looked around to see if anyone was listening, “I think she has a little thing for Elias too. It’s a win-win. You get Nini’s attention and maybe Gina could get Elias’ attention.”

Ricky paused, “ Gina Porter has a crush on Elias Scott? How do you even know that?”

“I’m good friends with Ashlyn, right? And Gina’s basically family to the Caswells so I know a few things.”

“How did I not know–when did you become best friends with Ashlyn?”

“Dude, I think you’re drifting from the point. Try to talk to Gina… she might be your only hope.”

Ricky ran his fingers through his hair and after a moment of silence let out a sigh, “Shit. Fine.”

“Alright, I gotta get to class, I’ll see you later. Keep me updated, alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you.” 

━━━━━━

Ricky spent the duration of the day trying to figure out how he could possibly convince Gina Porter to do this big favor for him. He really didn’t know much about her, besides what Nini had told him about her in the past. She was (in Nini’s words) someone “who’s intense and hostile and clearly thinks she’s better than you in every way.”

He recalled all of the times Nini would get out of musical rehearsal clearly agitated by something Gina had said to her that day or how “annoyingly perfect” Gina was in rehearsal that day. He remembered his envious Nini was of Gina’s dancing and her ability to act. 

All of these thoughts of Gina clouded his head until it was finally the end of the day. Once he was able to leave his 6th period class, Ricky nervously fumbled with the pen in his hand as he walked through the halls to find Gina. He had no idea how he was going to even present this idea to her. And he was in deep shit if she’ll say no. 

He spotted Ashlyn in the hall and quickly ran up to her, “Hey Ashlyn, by any chance do you know where Gina’s locker is?”

“Gina Porter?” Ashlyn asked in a surprised tone.

“Yes, Gina Porter.”

“Uh, her locker is right by room 106. Why do you as–” Ashlyn started but Ricky cut her off.

“Thanks so much Ashlyn!” He quickly darted off in the direction of room 106.

Anxiety started to flood through his veins as he got closer and closer to room 106 and finally he made it to that room. He looked around the hall full of students until he spotted the familiar face none other known as Gina Porter. 

She stood at her locker, stuffing her books away and throwing a few things into her book bag. Ricky chewed on his lower lip as his legs guided his body towards her locker. He leaned himself against the locker next to hers and waited until she closed her door to notice him.

After a few moments, she shut her locker door and was met face to face with Ricky. Her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of him, “Can I help you?”

Ricky quickly stood up, “Uh, hi, hey. I’m Ricky. Ricky Bowen.”

Gina raised her eyebrows, “I know who you are.”

“Oh. Well, uh, I don’t know if you know this but we’re in a group together for our trip. The senior trip…”

Gina nodded her head slowly, “Yeah, uh, I did see that.”

Ricky swallowed nervously. He didn’t realize that Gina was this intense. 

“Right. Of course you already saw.”

“Listen, is this conversation going somewhere? I have somewhere to be.” Gina threw her backpack over her shoulder.

“Yes! Yes, this conversation is very much going somewhere.” Ricky began, and then he paused, staring at the girl in front of him for a moment, “Listen. I need your help.”

“You need my help?” Gina repeated, her tone laced with confusion.

“Yes. I need your help.” He sighed. “I don’t know if you know but I used to date Nini and she, uh, dumped me a month ago. Somehow she’s already moved on with Elias Scott and somehow we both got put in this group with them for the trip.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not watch them be on their honeymoon all through Europe. It sounds repulsing.”

Gina shifted on her feet, “I wasn’t planning on paying attention to anyone on the trip.”

Ricky sighed, “Listen, I heard from a little birdie that you have a thing for Elias.”

Gina’s face softened for a moment, “Who told you that?”

Ricky shrugged, “That’s beside the point. Gina, I can’t tell you how bad it hurts for me to see Nini with him and if you actually do have some sort of a crush on Elias it might bother you too. And I really want to get Nini back. I haven’t been able to sleep for the past month because of how bad I miss her and it sucks—it really fucking sucks.”

Gina didn’t say much of anything, so Ricky took that as a cue to go on.

“Gina, I know this is a bit selfish and very out of the blue especially since we leave tomorrow but,” he paused and let out a shaky breath, “would you, maybe, want to pretend to like me so I can get Nini back?”

That sounded much stupider coming out of his mouth.

Gina’s lips parted and clearly she was at a loss of words.

Ricky wanted to disappear. He can’t believe he actually asked her. The boy ran his hand through his hair, “Shit, I mean, maybe you could even get Elias’ attention if you wanted by doing this… it’s a win-win.”

Gina’s lips curved up slightly and a small laugh escaped her lips, “You’re kidding, right?”

Ricky stared back at her, “No, why would I be kidding?”

“You want me to pretend to like you in order for you to get your ex-girlfriend back who is clearly in a happy relationship?” Gina crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows.

“God, do you have to make it sound like that? You’re missing the part where we were together for three years and that I miss her like hell.” Ricky rocked on his heels nervously.

She scoffed, shaking her head, “No. I’m not spending my whole trip across Europe trying to fix your failed relationship. Sorry, Bowen.”

He frowned watching her start to walk away.

“Wait, Gina, come on! You’re forgetting the part where I can help you get with Elias.” He followed her like a puppy until she stopped in the middle of the hallway.

“Look, even if I did have a small crush on him doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s in a happy relationship. Just give it up.”

Ricky groaned and remembered what Howie had said the night before, “I know Nini like the back of my hand. She’s most likely with him just to get over me, alright? That means Elias is into her a lot more than she is him.”

Gina glared at him for a moment, “I said no. Find someone else to play pretend with you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ricky sighed in defeat as he watched Gina Porter walk down the hallway and out the front entrance of the school. 

Chapter Text

Gina told herself that she wasn’t going to play Ricky Bowen’s little game. 

She barely even knew him. She shared a few classes with him over the two years she spent at East High but only knew what she heard was said of him. She knew that he dated Nini for a while. She also knew he was the typical skater boy who wasn’t really into school and constantly got high after school behind the bleachers. 

There was nothing in his game for her, well, except for maybe getting a little closer to Elias Scott. But even then, Gina genuinely didn’t even want to get close to Elias. For one, high school was ending in the matter of two weeks before everyone goes their separate ways and never sees each other again. It seemed almost useless.

Her mind drifted to her time in the school's productions of High School Musical and Beauty and the Beast. Nini had gotten the lead in HSM and Kourtney Greene had gotten the lead in Beauty and the Beast. Not that they didn’t deserve the leads, but Gina had always hoped to get the lead in both productions. 

She vaguely remembered how Nini was somewhat unprofessional during her time as Gabriella in the school musical. She was upset with the last minute changes of roles in which Troy’s understudy, who happened to be Elias Scott, had to go on with her. But, still, she was granted all the praise and Ricky Bowen was right there in the front row. 

She couldn’t understand how someone like Nini Salazar-Roberts was with someone like Elias. Elias was generous, bright, and compellingly charming and could get anyone he wanted in the school. His bright blue eyes and freckled cheeks are enough to make even Gina Porter swoon. She really didn’t mind Nini—hell, she barely paid any mind to her at all—but what did she have that both Elias and Ricky fell for? 

She was kind of nice, pretty, had a beautiful voice, and could decently act. But what else did she really have going for her?

Gina decided to push all of these thoughts out of her head once she finished her last minute packing for her trip the next day. She zipped up her suitcase, closed her carry-on bag and placed them together neatly by her bedroom door. 

After a few moments, she heard a knock on her door before Ashlyn emerged in her door frame, “Hey! You ready for tomorrow?”

She smiled lightly, “As ready as ever.”

Ashlyn came into the room and sat down on the edge of Gina’s bed, letting out a light squeal, “God, I can’t believe we’re going to Europe!”

“I can’t believe it either, Ash…” she replied, walking over to her bed and laying on her back, “we could come back and be completely different people.”

Ashlyn giggled, “Oh yeah. A lot can happen in ten days.” She laid on her back, mirroring Gina’s actions, “did EJ tell you about his five step plan to win Kourtney over?”

Gina turned her head to look at the redhead beside her, and laughed, “He told me about how he wanted to ask her out on the Eiffel Tower. What a dork.”

“He practically begged Miss Jenn to have them be in the same group for the trip.” Ashlyn said. “It sounds a lot like Nini and Elias… Big Red mentioned that Nini did basically the same thing.”

Gina sucked in a breath, hating that Ashlyn had to remind her of the Nini and Elias situation which only reminded her more of Ricky’s proposal. Stupid Ricky Bowen. 

She shook it off, “If it really was that easy then we could’ve been in the same group.”

“Yeahhh. I know.” Ashlyn took her phone out to check the time. “We should really get some sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow!”

Ashlyn got up from Gina’s bed and headed for the door. Before she was out of the room, she turned back to her, “I forgot to ask, did Ricky Bowen ever find you earlier? He asked me where your locker was and I just thought it was kind of weird…”

So that’s how he found me. 

Gina rolled her eyes, bringing a hand up to her face, “Uh, he just wanted to know where our group is supposed to meet tomorrow. Apparently he’s super uninformed on our trip.”

Ashlyn nodded her head slowly, almost as if she didn't really believe what her friend had just told her, “Right… Well, I’ll see you in the morning?”

Gina nodded her head in response, smiling tiredly, “Yeah, night Ash.”

“Goodnight, Gina.”

━━━━━━

Remember how Gina claimed that she wasn’t going to go along with Ricky’s little game? Well, a lot can happen in just a few hours. 

It started when Gina arrived at the school at 7:30 in the morning with EJ and Ashlyn Caswell both by her side. After EJ had gotten all of their bags out of the trunk of his car, they all headed to the school’s auditorium to check in with the chaperones before they all left for the airport. 

Once the three of them had checked in with each of their group’s designated chaperones, they sat in the seats of the auditorium waiting to depart from their school.

Gina could feel the excitement bubbling in her chest as they all waited to leave the school. They were going to Europe. Europe! London, Berlin, Prague, and then Paris. 

Gina reached for her phone and texted her mom:

Heading for the airport soon! love and miss you so much xo

Once she sent her text, she looked up and across the room she saw Ricky Bowen. He was whispering something into his best friend Big Red’s ear and just as she looked at him, he looked at her. He quickly tore his eyes away from hers only to look at someone else. 

She followed his gaze to see Nini with Elias. They were cuddling each other tight sitting with Kourtney and a few of Elias’ friends. 

Gina sighed quietly, feeling a little guilty about the situation. Of course it bothered her to see Elias with someone but she only had a crush on him. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to see your ex with someone else. 

“…do you think Kourtney would want to sit next to me on the bus?” Gina’s attention turned toward EJ, who was talking to both her and Ashlyn.

“If you ask her to, I’m sure she would, EJ.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes, a bit tired of EJ talking about his crush on Kourtney.

Gina’s phone buzzed in her lap. It was her mom:

Stay safe sweetie! Call me when you can ♥

She smiled and sent a quick text back. 

After a few moments of going back and forth with EJ about his Kourtney dilemma, the girls had convinced him to just ask her. So they watched as he walked over to her confidently, engaging in whatever conversation Nini and Elias were having with Kourtney.

“Do you think he’s embarrassing himself?” Ashlyn whispered to Gina.

“Oh, definitely.”

At 8:15, the 40 some students and the eight chaperones all got on to the two motor coach buses parked outside the school and headed to the airport. EJ ended up in triumph and was sitting with Kourtney on the way there while Gina and Ashlyn sat together.

After about a thirty minute car ride to the airport, the group of students were impatiently waiting to get off the bus as the chaperones called off their names one by one. Once the roll call was up, the chaperones instructed that the students could get off the bus and grab their luggage from the deck below. 

Gina and Ashlyn stood up from their seats, waiting for their turn to get off the bus. As they waited, Ricky and Big Red were walking down the bus aisle. Both he and Gina made eye contact in that moment and Ricky sent her an awkward smile.

It’s almost like he was somehow guilting her into this. He just looked so deflated. Is that going to be all she sees when she looks at him all vacation? Again, stupid Ricky Bowen. 

Finally it was time for Gina and Ashlyn to get off the bus and claim their bags.

Gina sighed, turning to Ashlyn, “I am not looking forward to this 15 hour flight. At least we’re sitting together.”

“Gosh, I know. Hopefully we can get some sleep during the flight.” Ashlyn replied, pulling her backpack onto her shoulder.

EJ and Kourtney eventually caught up to both of them when they got their bags. After a few minutes of standing outside, the whole class headed into the airport to check into their flight and check in their bags.

While she was walking in, Gina noticed that Elias and Nini were walking right in front of her talking about what they were going to do on the flight to pass time. Her eyes wandered down to their hands and saw that their fingers were intertwined.

Gina frowned slightly seeing Elias run his thumb along her knuckles. She tore her eyes away from them and started talking to EJ and Kourtney.

After what seemed like the longest check-in process ever, they all went through security and all got their passports checked. Finally everyone was free to roam the airport while they waited to board their flight that boarded at 11:09am. 

They had roughly two hours until they boarded their flight. The first hour went by fairly quickly. Gina, Ashlyn, EJ, and Kourtney all got coffee together and then they roamed some of the convenience shops to kill time. 

Once there was about a half hour until their flight boarded, they all decided to sit at their gate. Gina took out her phone and once again texted her mom.

Then, she stuffed her phone away in her pocket. Her eyes wandered to the row of seats across from her, where she saw Ricky slumped in his seat and only one of his earbuds in his ear. He checked his phone and whispered something to Big Red then he got up from his seat.

She watched him as he headed towards the bathrooms nearest to their gate. Gina exhaled and scanned the gate for the infamous Nini and Elias in which they were nowhere to be found.

After a few minutes, her eyes wandered back to the bathrooms where lo and behold stood Nini, Elias and Ricky. The soccer captain had his arm resting around Nini as she talked to Ricky, who clearly looked mortified to even be talking to both of them.

He looked uncomfortable and awkward. Gina could tell that his eyes were trained on Elias’ arm that was draped around his ex-girlfriend. Again, she felt that pang of guilt in her chest.

And then she remembered that she had to spend pretty much the whole trip with those lovebirds and Ricky. They had to go on every excursion, every museum trip, basically every part of the trip will be spent together . She imagined how she would have to watch Ricky heartbroken and yearning as he watched the love of his life with another guy. She would have to watch him not even enjoy his trip to Europe due to being put in the same group as them.

It would probably ruin Gina’s trip. 

Gina’s never really done anything rebellious or crazy in her entire high school experience. Maybe it would be a little fun to stir up the pot. 

She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes still trained on Ricky who definitely wanted out of whatever they were talking about.

So, without thinking about it any further, Gina got up and headed straight for her three classmates. When she neared closer to them, she put on her best fake-smile and decided to put on a show.

Nini was talking about something as Gina walked over, “…we’re in the same group–”

“Hey, Ricky,” she met Ricky and placed her hand on his upper bicep, causing him to almost jump out of his skin. He looked up at Gina, his eyes widening, “did you ask Big Red if he could switch seats with Ashlyn yet?”

Ricky stared at her, his mouth hanging open in surprise. “I–uh,” he looked down at her hand on his arm and then back up at her, “um, yeah…”

He looked over at Nini and Elias, who clearly were confused as to why Gina Porter interrupted their conversation. He looked back at her, clearing his throat, “Yeah. Big Red said it’s cool… he loves Ashlyn.”

“Great!” Gina smirked, leaning in a little closer to Ricky, who was uncomfortably stiff next to her. Her eyes moved over to Nini and Elias, who stood there awkwardly, “Oh hi! I’m sorry I interrupted you, I just couldn’t wait to sit with Ricky. I was a little upset when I found out he didn't ask Big Red sooner.”

Gina watched Nini carefully as her face faltered for a moment, looking between both her and the curly haired boy. After a few moments, Nini swallowed, “No, yeah… it’s totally fine.”

Her eyes wandered to Elias, who was looking at her skeptically. Gina felt a twinge of butterflies in her stomach as he looked at her with his blue eyes, but then he looked at Ricky.

“So…" Elias brought his hand up to his neck, "are you guys dating or something?” 

“No!” Ricky exclaimed.

“Yes.” Gina said at the same time.

Ricky’s head snapped to Gina and she sent him a confused glance. They both awkwardly laughed together. 

Gina turned her head to the couple in front of them, her grip tightening on Ricky’s arm, “Clearly we have a few things to talk about on our 15 hour flight.” 

Nini and Elias shared a glance and Ricky took that as their cue to get out of that conversation, “Uh, if you’d excuse us we have to go talk about some things.”

He practically dragged Gina away from Nini and Elias, who were bidding them their goodbyes. Once Ricky found a safe spot for him to talk to her, he dropped her hand.

“What was that?” 

“What was what? I’m doing what you asked… you know, pretending to like you?” Gina crossed her arms.

Ricky huffed, “I can see that. But, last time I checked you clearly were not into it and now suddenly you’re playing along? I just don’t get it.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Look, I realized within the last ten minutes that this trip is going to be quite miserable for the both of us if we have to watch them being all couple-y all day everyday. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to have fun on this trip.”

Ricky stared at her for a moment, biting down on his lower lip and clearly thinking about something. “So you’re serious about this?”

“Yes, Bowen. I’m serious about this.”

“You sure?”

“If you keep asking me I’ll take it back and I won’t help you.” 

Ricky let out a sigh of relief, “Okay. Dope! So now we just have to act like we like each other.”

Gina tilted her head, “That is the plan.”

Ricky stood there, not being sure of what to say, “Should I really tell Red that he has to sit with Ashlyn?”

“I mean, probably… we’re trying to convince everyone. If we convince everyone that we are into each other, then that’ll make Nini fall for it.”

Ricky nodded his head and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants, “Right.”

“…we are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time.” The loudspeaker at their gate sounded.

They both exchanged glances and decided it was time for them to get back to their gate. Ricky went to go talk to Big Red and Gina to Ashlyn.

Gina sat down next to Ashlyn, who was currently sifting through her book bag for her gum.

“Hey Ash?”

“Oh, hey, Gi. What’s up?”

“Can I ask you a really huge favor?”

The redhead looked up, her brows raised, “What is it?”

“This is going to sound crazy but can you sit with Big Red on the flight?”

She laughed, “Why would I sit with Big Red? Who would you sit with?”

Gina sighed, “Ricky. I’d sit with Ricky.”

“What–why would you sit with Ricky? Am I missing something?”

Gina played with the hem of her hoodie, “I don’t have much time to explain but I promise I’ll fill you in when we land alright?”

“I have to wait 15 hours to see why I have to sit next to Big Red?” Ashlyn huffed. “I mean no offense to Big Red… I love him but I’d rather be sitting with you.”

“Trust me, I’d rather sit with you too.” Gina mumbled. “But, since I can’t text you during the flight, maybe Big Red can fill you in? I’m sure he knows what’s going on.”

Ashlyn paused for a moment, then sighed, “Ugh, fine. I’ll sit with him.”

“Gosh, Ash, you are the best. You don’t even know!”

Before Ashlyn could respond the flight attendant at the desk called, “Flight 89 to London is now boarding…” 

Ashlyn and Gina grabbed their bags and headed to the line with their other classmates. As they were waiting in line, Big Red and Ricky met up with them.

“Hey.” Ricky smiled awkwardly.

“Hi.” Gina replied.

Big Red laughed, “ Awww, look at this happy couple.”

“ Couple ? What the hell?” Ashlyn looked at Gina with wide eyes.

The line moved and Gina sighed, looking around her quickly. She shook her head vigorously, “Ash, I promise it’s not like that.”

“Not yet .” Big Red chimed in, smirking.

“Dude?” Ricky hit his best friend’s arm.

“What?” Big Red held his arm, “Geez, I’m just kidding…”

“Okay, Red, you’re going to have to do a lot of explaining to do. I have literally no idea what is happening here.” Ashlyn said.

Gina sighed and shook her head. The line moved forward until they all got their tickets scanned at the gate and were ready to board. They all walked down the jetbridge to get to the plane.

Gina and Big Red exchanged their plane tickets as they entered the plane. They all followed their classmates down the aisle, through first class and into economy seating. 

Ricky spotted Nini and Elias, who were already in their seats. They were sat in the middle section of the plane, right next to two of the chaperones. They were already getting comfortable and Nini draped a blanket over them. He had to look away.

Gina followed behind him and she, too, saw them. But, she didn’t say or do anything. All she did was follow him to their seats. 

“34A…” Ricky mumbled, looking down at his ticket and then scanned the numbers on the rows of seats. He looked back at Gina, “What’s your number?”

She looked down at her ticket, “Uh, 34B.”

Ricky nodded in response and after a few moments they arrived at their seats. “Here we are.” He turned to Gina, “Do you want the window seat?”

Gina pressed her lips in a line. Of course she wanted the window seat. Who wouldn’t? “Do you want the window seat?”

He chuckled, “It’s up to you, Porter.”

Gina stared at him for a moment. Oh, so he’s using last names too. I see.

“Fine, I will have the window seat.” Gina said.

Ricky nodded his head, “Alright. After you.” He moved out of the way for her and gestured towards the seats.

Gina took off her book bag and made her way to the window seat and sat down. She placed her backpack under the seat in front of her. Ricky followed her actions and did the same with his backpack that he had been carrying.

He sighed and looked around. Luckily, he and Gina didn’t have any view of Nini and Elias. But, they did have a view of Big Red and Ashlyn, who were only a few rows ahead of them.

“I can’t believe we’re going to be in Europe.” Ricky said for what felt like the thousandth time.

“I can’t believe I have to spend my vacation in Europe pretending to like you.” Gina said, unzipping her backpack and searching for her headphones.

“Hey! You agreed to this.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “You guilted me into it.”

Ricky’s lips parted, “No, no I didn’t. I took your no as an answer yesterday. I was just minding my business and then you decided to be my fake girlfriend, or whatever it is.”

She sighed, “Only because you looked desperate. It’s called charity work, Bowen.”

“Hey! By the end of this trip you’re going to love me.”

Gina finally looked at him, “I highly doubt that. By the end of this trip I’m going to be so excited to be liberated from being in your presence.”

“Listen, I’m not thrilled to be in your presence either.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to get used to it, honey pot. ” Gina conjured up the fakest smile she could put on, and batted her eyelashes at him. The corners of Ricky's lips turned up slightly as he looked back at her. 

“So are you, my honey butter biscuit. ” His smile held the same evil-but-sweet combination that hers had. After a few moments, he broke her eye contact and turned his head down to his phone.

Gina’s smile faded and her face twisted into a sour expression, “God, you owe me, Ricky Bowen.”

Chapter Text

Two months ago, if you were to ask Ricky what he would be doing on his senior trip and who he would be with this is what he would say: 1. He’d be with Nini. Who else would he be with? And 2. They’d spend the entire trip with each other—eating so many different types of food, holding hands through the streets of whatever city, and just enjoying each other’s company just as they always did.

Never in a million years would he have expected that he’d be spending his entire trip to Europe with Gina Porter, pretending to be her fake boyfriend in order to get his beloved Nini Salazar-Roberts back. 

But here he was: not yet in Europe, sitting at a table in front of some luxury cafe with an overly expensive cup of coffee across from Gina. 

They had an hour and 10 minute layover in the Atlanta airport and Gina decided it would be a great idea to come up with a little rulebook for their game. 

Earlier in the hour they had met up with Big Red and Ashlyn, in which Ashlyn expressed her many concerns about Ricky and Gina and their fake dating facade.

“How do you even know that it’s going to work? And how are the two of you going to act like you’re in love? Do you even have rules?”

Ricky, Gina and Big Red all assured her that the plan could not go wrong. How could it go wrong? 

“…are you even listening?” Ricky’s head snapped to Gina, who was staring at him across the table. 

“Uh, yeah I was.” He swallowed, looking down at the paper that was on the table.

“What did I say?” Gina leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms and sending him a knowing look.

“Uh,” he started, then paused, “yeah I totally was not listening.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Look, we don’t have a lot of time to figure out the key details of our relationship and finish up our rules. We really need to hurry.”

Ricky sat up, his grip tightening on his cup of coffee, “Sorry, yeah, you’re right.” He said. “Where were we?”

Gina’s eyes lingered on him for a moment, until she looked back down at the crinkled sheet of paper in between them, “Um,” she began, her eyes scanning over the paper, “oh, when did you ask me out?”

His eyebrows furrowed, “How do you know I was the one who asked you out?”

Gina scoffed, “do I look like I would ask you out? No, you definitely asked me out.”

Ricky sighed, “You definitely could’ve been the one to ask me out, Porter. I’m a very charming guy! But, fine. If anyone asks, which I doubt they will, I asked you out.”

Gina ignored him and started to scribble some stuff down, “Let’s say that you asked me out about two weeks ago…”

“You came into Red’s pizza place when I was there one night.” Ricky added.

She looked up from the paper, “Big Red has a pizza place?”

Ricky’s eyes widened and his mouth fell agape, “You’ve never had Redonovich’s pizza? Are you living under a rock?”

Gina paused for a moment, “I mean maybe I’ve had it… Ash and her family don’t order pizza all that often so I don’t know if we’ve had it.” 

Ricky suddenly remembered that Big Red had mentioned something about Gina being almost like family to the Caswells. He didn’t know if what she had just said meant that she lives with them or not, but it definitely spiked his curiosity. He decided to tuck that thought away for another time and continue on with the conversation.

“Well, once we get back home I’ll have to get you a slice. I might be biased here but it’s probably the best pizza in all of Salt Lake.”

Gina nodded her head, “I might take you up on that, honey pot.” 

Ricky groaned, “Oh, not with the names again.”

“No can do, we’re in a relationship so we have to have some pet names.”

“Pet names make me cringe. They–” 

“So you’re telling me that in your entire three years of dating Nini, you never called her anything other than her name?” Gina asked.

“Well, no… I mean I did call her babe and baby but that has to be it.” 

Truth be told, Ricky really didn’t have any other pet names for Nini but she definitely had one for him. It was “Stinky” or "Stinky-Winky" if she was feeling a little adventurous and anyone outside of their relationship would think it was the weirdest name for your boyfriend. The nickname started when they had started dating, when they sat on Nini's bed and Nini had pointed out that Ricky's feet smelled (pretty) bad. She thought it was cute and then the nickname was born. But Ricky would never tell Gina about it; he would never ever hear the end of it. 

Gina laughed and shook her head, “Those are probably the worst of pet names. I would never want to be called baby or babe… it’s just too awkward and weird.”

Ricky raised his eyebrows, “then what would you like to be called? You know, if you had to have a pet name.”

“Anything but.” 

“Okay, alright. How about…” Ricky began to ponder, “Sugar? Love muffin? Cooki–”

“Oh my God, no ! Never!” Gina shook her head, laughing lightly. 

“Sweet thang?”

“What, is this Suite Life of Zack and Cody ?” 

“No. Good show though. How about Snookums? Sweetums? Buttercup?” 

Gina stuffed her face into her hands, “Please stop.”

“I don’t know about you, but my personal favorite has to be honey butter biscuit. It rolls nicely off the tongue.”

“Oh my God, Bowen, no wonder we were never friends before this trip. You’re incredibly annoying.”

Ricky gripped his chest, “Wow, Porter, I’m so deeply offended.”

Gina was about to respond, but the alarm on her phone started to go off which signaled that the two teenagers had to get back to their gate. Ricky sighed, knowing that he had to endure another 10 hours on a plane as if the last four hours weren’t enough. 

They both got up and Gina folded their piece of paper up and tucked it into the pocket of her hoodie. As they started walking, Gina turned to him, “we didn’t get anything done so now we have to discuss our rules on the flight.”

Ricky looked down at her, “Alright.”

They walked in silence a majority of the way to their gate. Once they neared, most of their classmates and the chaperones were gathered in a big circle.

Ricky’s eyes immediately landed on Nini and Elias and felt sick. He never got used to seeing the both of them together, let alone cuddling up to each other. He couldn’t understand why they had to do it right in front of his face as if the two of them weren’t together the month before.

It hurt him more than anybody would ever know. Nini’s been one of the only constant things in his life and for the last month, she’s been gone. He went to her for everything. His family problems, his friend problems, hell even his homework problems. She was always there for him and he missed her so bad.

It seemed like he was staring at her for a little too long and then Nini’s familiar brown eyes met his. At that moment, he felt like he was going to melt. Into a puddle.

She looked so cute in her sweats and her hair tied into two braids. She had a small smile on her face as she back looked at him, and for just a moment Ricky almost forgot that they weren’t together.

That was until he felt a hand placed in his. He quickly looked down at his hand, and then up at Gina, who was smiling at him. His stomach twisted and suddenly he was whipped back into the reality of the situation.

He swallowed and looked back over to Nini, who’s small smile was now replaced with a slight frown.

After a few moments, he felt a small squeeze on his hand and he looked over at Gina.

“Don’t look at her. It’s too obvious.” She whispered, leaning in a little closer to him.

Ricky nodded his head, “Right. Yeah, yeah.” 

Finally they met up with their friends Big Red and Ashlyn who were standing with EJ and Kourtney.

“Hey guys.” Gina greeted.

“Hey!” Big Red, Kourtney and Ashlyn all said in unison.

“Where were you guys?” Big Red asked curiously.

“We went to get some coffee… Gina was exhausted from the flight so she needed some coffee.” Ricky replied, his lips pressed in a thin line as he felt the eyes of both EJ Caswell and Kourtney Greene burning a hole in his head.

It didn’t help that Kourtney was Nini’s best friend. But he couldn’t figure out why EJ looked so uncomfortable that he was holding Gina’s hand. It had to have something to do with Gina being close to the Caswells. 

“Okay, that’s a lie, Ricky needed some coffee. I just tagged along.” Gina rolled her eyes.

“That sounds like Ricky. He’s always dragging me to get coffee before we go to the skate park.” Big Red laughed.

“I’m sorry—am I missing something here?” EJ budded in, his eyes flickering down to Ricky and Gina’s intertwined fingers. “I didn’t know the two of you were… together.”

Ricky’s lips parted, his eyes scanning over Big Red and Ashlyn’s faces. They both held looks of amusement. 

They were the only two people on the planet who could know about this. EJ was clearly talking to Kourtney, who is Nini’s best friend so they both could never know about their fake dating scheme.

“Um, yeah. It’s a really long story, EJ. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you… It happened really fast.” Gina smiled lightly at her dear friend.

Ricky swallowed, and then managed to muster up a smile. Before he could say anything else, the loud speaker sounded that the flight was boarding.

Gina dropped Ricky’s hand and stuffed her hand into her pocket once everyone’s eyes were off of them. 

It took about a half hour for everyone on the flight to board and get settled in. With their luck, Ricky and Gina managed to end up with a window seat and this time, Gina let Ricky sit by the window.

The first two hours of the flight went by fairly quickly. The pair of teenagers discussed the parameters of their fake relationship. They decided that there really wasn’t much that they needed to have rules on if they just made it seem like they were in love.

1. They had to hold hands when walking together. It's simple but effective.
2. There was no talking about their scheme whatsoever unless they knew they were in complete privacy. They can't risk it. 
3. And there was to be absolutely NO kissing. They’re just not the type of couple that likes PDA. It's gross.

After they finished discussing their three very important rules, they both decided to do their own thing. Gina popped her headphones in and Ricky went to play games on his phone. 

The next few hours were just like their first flight before the layover. They sat in complete silence, only mumbling a few words to each other every now and then or when they had to get up to use the bathroom. Eventually, the sky outside the plane started to grow darker and darker until it became night. 

Ricky shut his eyes somewhere in the sixth hour and began drifting asleep to his “night vibes” playlist. The only thing that was on his mind was Nini and how by the end of the trip he could be sitting beside her on the flight home. 

━━━━━━

Ricky woke up to the feeling of something tickling his face. He peeled his eyes open only to see he was resting his head very close to Gina’s face and that tickling feeling was coming from her soft curls. Once Ricky had realized just how close he was in proximity to her, he quickly jolted back, only resulting in hitting his head hard on the wall of the plane.

“Ow!” Ricky winced, his hand flying to the back of his head.

Gina, who had been sleeping, was abruptly woken up by his sudden outburst. She looked over at him with tired eyes, “Jesus, Bowen, what the hell ?”

“Good morning to you too.” He grumbled whilst massaging the back of his head. 

“What even happened?” Gina sat up in her seat, trying to be quiet so she didn't wake anybody up.

Ricky let out a heavy sigh, not really wanting to admit why he hit his head. “The plane must’ve hit some turbulence because it woke me up and… bam. I just hit my head.”

Gina eyed him wearily, clearly being unsure if she really believed his story but she ignored him anyway. The pair of teenagers didn’t see any point in going back to sleep once they realized there was only a half hour left in their flight. 

Once the pilot made his announcement that they were making their descent into London, the rest of the passengers had woken up too. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Ricky suddenly felt excitement bubbling in his chest. He felt like a kid again, a kid who was about to go to Disney World for the first time. Sure, he was exhausted from the uncomfortable and long flight, but he was about to be in Europe for ten days.  

Their plane landed smoothly, and just like that they were in another country. And it seemed like an instant before the plane erupted in excited whispers by the teenagers that sat inside. Ricky could even see the small smile on Gina’s face as she put her backpack onto her shoulders.

Once everyone was off the plane and stretched their legs, the group of organized chaperones did another roll call and then they were off to check into their hotel. Ricky and Gina sat together on the bus. Though everyone was drained from their flight, they couldn’t contain their excitement as the charter bus rolled through the city of London.

After twenty minutes, they finally arrived at their hotel. Once everyone was let off the buses and had grabbed all of their luggage, Gina grabbed Ricky’s hand. He looked over at her and she didn’t look at him, she was admiring the scenery of the hotel. 

The chaperones all went to check into the hotel and get everything situated and the forty students gathered in the lobby. There was an excited buzz over all of the students and Ricky loved the energy. 

As Big Red was excitedly talking about how he’s going to try every British candy in the book, Ricky’s eyes wandered over to where Nini stood. She sat next to Elias on one of the couches with her head rested on his shoulder. Clearly, she was tired from the long journey.

Ricky felt a pang of jealousy in his chest as he watched Elias press his lips on the top of her head. He had to look away.

A few more minutes passed by and the chaperones gathered the group together. First, they handed out their room keys by calling one member of each pair up to claim it. Once everyone had their own keys, Miss Jenn - one of the chaperones - made an announcement.

“Alright everybody!” She clapped. “So, we are well aware that everyone is exhausted from our flight. We left early in the morning in Salt Lake and now we’re here and it’s suddenly 10am again.”

“Today’s probably going to be the most laid back day for us. The only thing we’re going to do on our itinerary today is visiting Oxford Street to do some shopping. But, that won’t be until 2:00 when we’re all well rested.” 

Miss Jenn turned her attention to one of her colleagues who piggy-backed off of her announcements, “So we will be meeting down here in the lobby at 2:00 and will gather with your groups, then we will be off!”

Ugh, not the groups... He’ll actually have to talk to Nini again?

Ricky turned to Gina, “Well, honey butter biscuit,” he sighed, “looks like we have to say goodbye for now.”

She looked back at him, a subtle glare on her face, “That really sucks. I’m gonna miss you so much, love muffin.”

God, these nicknames really were horrible.

“You guys have nicknames already? Wow, you’re prepared.” Big Red laughed.

And then they all went their separate ways. Gina went with Ashlyn and Ricky went the other direction with Big Red. 

Once the pair of best friends made it up to the third floor and found their designated room, the two boys ran to the beds and fell on them. 

“I have never been so excited to see a bed.” Ricky hummed happily, staring up at the ceiling of their room. 

Big Red exhaled loudly, “Me too, dude, me too.”

Ricky turned his head to his best friend, “Hey, how was your flight by the way? How was sitting with Ashlyn?”

“Actually it wasn’t too bad. Ashlyn is so chill and even wanted to watch a few of the Harry Potter movies together! We got up to Half Blood Prince and then both passed out.” Red explained and then turned his head to Ricky, “how was your flight?”

He shrugged in response, “I mean we didn’t really talk that much. I woke up and our faces were really close together and so then I quickly moved out of the way so Gina didn’t wake up and kill me but then I hit my head on the wall. My head hurts like hell.”

Big Red laughed, “Of course you hit your head.”

Before Ricky could say much of anything else, his phone buzzed. Half expecting a text from his dad, he grabbed his phone. The one person he didn’t expect to get a text from name popped up on his screen. It was Nini:

listen ricky. I am VERY happy that u managed to find someone and its totally none of my business but can i just say why gina??? You guys didn’t even know each other before… like when did it happen? 

Ricky sat up quickly.

Big Red propped himself up on his elbows, “What is it, man?”

“It’s Nini. She texted me.”

“Nini texted you? As in your ex-girlfriend Nini? The same Nini who has a new boyfriend?”

Ricky glared at him, “Yes, dipshit my ex-girlfriend.” 

Ricky stared down at his phone and a small amount of excitement started forming in his chest. It bothered Nini that he was with Gina. It was only the first day on their trip and their plan was working!

“Well, what’d she say?” Big Red inquired.

“She’s quote-un-quote very happy that I found someone but why am I with Gina?” 

“Dude! That’s perfect! I knew that she’d be bothered by you being with Gina. Wow, I really am big-brained. You’re lucky to have me.”

Ricky chuckled lightly at his best friend before reading the text over again. He let out a sigh, “What am I supposed to say to that?”

“You could say something like “Hey, Nini! You’re right it’s none of your business! See you in a few hours!”” The redhead replied.

Ricky breathed out, butterflies forming in his stomach at the near thought that Nini was jealous of him being with Gina. He opened his phone and clicked on the text, revealing the last few messages between them.

He bit down on his lower lip, trying to think of something good to respond to her. It couldn’t be too straightforward or too cryptic. He started typing and reading the words aloud for his best friend to hear:

Me and you haven’t spoken in a while so I really didn’t think it was a big deal that I found someone new. Especially since you’re with Elias now? And the thing with Gina is that it happened out of the blue and was super unexpected. Don’t you think you should be happy for me?

“How does that sound?” Ricky asked his best friend for approval.

Big Red agreed with his text and he pressed the ‘send’ button. Then, he threw his phone down on the bed.

“I can’t believe she texted me.”

“Yeah… I mean she must’ve been thinking about you for the whole flight.”

Ricky smiled to himself in triumph, “Huh. You’re right.” He let himself fall back on the bed once again.

The room was filled with comfortable silence. Ricky was about to shut his eyes but his phone buzzed again.

His heart raced and his hand flew to his phone. It was Nini (again).

Yeah. you’re right Ricky… I am happy for you.

See you soon !

“She said she’s happy for me.” Ricky said, turning his head to look at Big Red who was texting somebody on his phone. He had a smile spread across his face and laughed out loud. Ricky raised an eyebrow, “who’re you texting, Red?”

Red looked up quickly, “Uh, no one.”

“ Dude ? Who are you texting?”

“Do I have to tell you?”

“I mean… you don’t have to tell me. But, you’re blushing.” Ricky noted.

The redhead’s lips parted and brought his hand up to his cheek, “I’m not blushing.”

Ricky scoffed, a laugh escaping his lips, “Dude, I might be exhausted but I can see that you’re definitely blushing!” 

He hadn’t seen his best friend blush in a long time. 

The last time he’d seen him blush is the time when they were bowling two years prior and Big Red had been staring at the cashier at the snack stand the entire night. They had been ordering food and if you asked Ricky, the cashier guy was totally flirting with Big Red but the redhead was adamant that the worker was straight. Nothing happened because of it.

“I’m not!” Big Red grumbled, turning his face away from Ricky. “Why are we even talking about me? You’re the one with the relationship problems.”

“Fine,” Ricky had raised his hands up in surrender, “I’ll drop it… for now .”

The two boys sat in comfortable silence for a while. The curly haired brunette’s mind roamed between thoughts of just what his best friend could be hiding and thoughts of his ex-girlfriend, who was probably getting settled in with Kourtney in her room. At least he knew that she wasn’t with Elias (or at least he hoped so). 

“Do you think any of the members of One Direction are here?”

Ricky let out a hearty laugh and turned his attention once again to his best friend, “That would be kind of sick. Imagine meeting Harry Styles.”

Big Red rolled his eyes, “No. Imagine meeting Zayn Malik .”

“Didn’t he leave the band?”

Big Red sighed, “Yes. But he’s still a member to me!”

After a few more minutes of Big Red explaining basically the whole history of One Direction as a band and even giving Ricky a five minute description on their lives as solo artists, the two boys decided to take a nap before they had to leave at 2:00. 

━━━━━━

“How’s your head?” Gina had asked once they met each other in the hotel lobby at precisely 2:00. She had changed her outfit from sweats and replaced them with a pair of jeans and a black denim jacket over top of her white shirt. She looked nice.

“What?” Ricky had asked while taking in the outfit she wore.

“Your head. That you hit this morning.” 

He cleared his throat, “Uh, right. It’s a bit sore.”

Gina nodded her head slowly and was about to say something else until someone had approached the two of them. They turned their head to them and found that it was Carlos Rodriguez, one of their classmates and the fifth member of their group.

“ So ,” he started, eyeing the two skeptically, “the streets are saying that the two of you are dating. Is that true?”

Ricky and Gina exchanged a glance. Gina turned back to Carlos, “Well, hello to you Carlos!”

“Hi.” He replied, looking between his classmates once again. 

“The streets are right, by the way,” Ricky had said, taking Gina’s hand into his, “we are a couple.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Interesting.” 

Gina tilted her head curiously, “Why’s it interesting?”

Carlos laughed lightly, “I don’t know… it’s just the two of you don’t seem like the type of people who would end up together. And plus, I do think it is a little strange how all of a sudden the two of you are dating after we found out yesterday who else is in our group.” 

Truthfully, Ricky had never paid much attention to Carlos. Over the years, he’s had some classes with him but their social groups had never crossed paths (unless you count Nini). Even when he was with Nini, Ricky didn’t go to any of her theater gatherings. This was probably the first time he’s actually spoken to Carlos. 

“We’re not suddenly dating, Carlos.” Gina replied, her tone coming off as defensive. “We’ve been talking for a few weeks on the down low. It’s just that we didn’t want to stir up any drama.”

Carlos gazed at her for a moment. She continued, “If anything, the universe wanted to stir up drama. I was practically begging Miss Jenn for us to be in the same group for the trip and next thing we knew, she decided to put us in with Nini and Elias. We know it seems out of the blue - it sucks and it’s probably gonna be awkward, but I don’t really appreciate you questioning our relationship.”

Ricky stared down at her, his lips parting at how convincing she sounded. He looked over at Carlos, trying his best to hide the surprise on his face. 

There were a few moments of silence before Carlos hummed, “Alright. Sorry.”

He didn’t seem entirely convinced, but Ricky still took it as a small win. 

Quietness had fallen between the three once again. Before anyone had the chance to say anything further, Mr. Mazzara, one of the chaperones had begun lecturing the forty students on how “you are all adults now so be on your best behavior and stick together.” 

Their tech-teacher explained how Oxford Street was only a few blocks away and that they would be heading there shortly after they gathered into their groups. 

“By now, you all should know who is in your groups. So please, if you all would get together with your groups and we can get this show on the road.” Mr. Mazzara stiffly clapped his hands together. 

“It’s so weird to see Mazzara in those clothes.” Big Red whispered to Ricky.

“I know. He looks so uncomfortable.” Ricky responded, a small laugh escaping his lips. By now, everyone had started to move into their groups. He turned to Red, “Well, have fun with your group. Maybe we’ll run into each other while shopping.”

With that, Big Red and Ashlyn had left their friends to meet up with the rest of their group. Ricky had turned his attention towards looking for Nini and Elias. Once he spotted them, butterflies erupted in his stomach when he realized they had been walking towards them.

Gina squeezed his hand in an effort to calm him down. He visibly looked nervous. 

Carlos turned to the pair, “You know, I was a bit disappointed to see who’s group I was in. Just so the two of you know, I’ll be hanging around you. I’d rather not hang out with Nini and Elias Scott - that’d be a total snooze fest.”

Gina stifled her laugh as Nini and Elias were approaching them. Ricky looked down at her with an amused look on his face.

“Hey guys!” Nini greeted them happily, causing Ricky’s head to snap up quickly.

“Hey, Nini.” Gina put on a smile as she looked between her and Elias.

Oh, how fun this trip will be! Ricky got to see his ex-girlfriend, her current boyfriend and his fake-girlfriend every single day. And plus, he wasn’t entirely sure that Carlos was convinced with their situation. 

“Neens and I were talking before and we thought that in a few hours after we shopped, we could all go to dinner.” Elias fondly looked down at Nini and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. 

Neens. That’s what Ricky used to call her. 

He shook it off, trying to avoid Nini’s eyes, “Yeah. That sounds cool.”

“I’m down.” Carlos added. 

Gina leaned into Ricky’s side and rested her head on his shoulder, “That sounds like fun.”

And then within a few minutes, everyone was in their assigned groups and ready to head to their first tourist destination of the trip. 

It was probably a ten minute walk down to Oxford Street but to Ricky, it seemed to take forever to get there. He desperately tried to take in the beautiful city of London, he tried to look at all of the beautiful architecture and he tried to just be in the moment. But, unfortunately for him, his attention remained solely on Nini and her boyfriend who walked a few feet ahead of them.

He hated the way that Elias had his arm wrapped around her tightly as they walked down the city streets and how he would whisper something to her every few minutes, causing her to laugh. He hated how Elias could make her laugh so effortlessly without trying and even how they looked cute together as a couple. It sucked.

“You know,” Gina whispered to him, “if I knew how much of a boring fake-boyfriend you’d be, I would’ve never signed up for this position.”

Ricky looked over at the girl who walked beside him and rolled his eyes, “ Gee , thanks.” 

She rolled her eyes right back and tugged on his arm lightly, “Come on, Bowen, you seriously need to lighten up. We knew it was going to be like this,” she gestured her free hand towards Nini and Elias, “so you shouldn’t be dwelling on it. At least act like you’re enjoying yourself.” 

He knew that she was right. He shouldn’t be putting all his time and energy on dwelling; what he should be putting his time and energy into is making it seem like he was in a happy relationship with Gina. Well that and having a little fun on his vacation.

He sighed, “Maybe you’re right, Porter.”

“I’m always right.” She hummed whilst admiring London’s beautiful scenery.

Ricky scoffed, “ Sure .”

“For one, I knew that our trip would be miserable if you were sulking over your ex-girlfriend. You’re already putting a damper on my fun.” She tried to remain as quiet as she could with her classmates around her.

“I was not sulking .”

“You were definitely just sulking. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Nope.”

“Fine.” She said. “Moping?”

“I have not been moping!”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Brooding? Pouting?”

“No and no. I was just… watching them.”

“Okay so you were watching them and sulking.” 

Ricky looked over at Gina with a glare on his face and she met his gaze with a small smirk displayed on her lips. “You know how annoying you are?”

“Sadly, no, I’ve never been told. Thanks for enlightening me though.” She sighed dramatically.

A small smile played on Ricky’s lips as they continued to walk down the city streets of London. He allowed himself to begin to actually take in the buzzing city around him.

The sidewalks were swarmed with bodies left and right and the streets were filled with cars and double-decker buses. It was such a different change compared to Salt Lake City—it felt more lively and picturesque than his hometown and Ricky loved it.

Finally they had arrived on the corner of Oxford Street. Their chaperones had told them to meet back in the same spot at approximately 10pm, which gave them more than enough time to shop and get some food. 

Carlos, who had been walking with his friend Seb the entire way, finally caught up to Ricky and Gina. Once they had met up with Nini and Elias, they had split from their other classmates and started to explore the popular shopping strip.

After a few minutes of walking down the street, Nini had practically dragged the entire group into H&M despite the tangled effort from Ricky, who did not want to go into the store. Once they were inside, she and Elias went in one direction and Carlos went off on his own. 

Ricky and Gina exchanged a glance and then dropped each other’s hands. They decided to explore the store a bit since it was huge and had a total of six floors.

After they were out of sight from their classmates, Ricky turned to Gina as they browsed through the first floor, “I kind of feel bad for Carlos. He has to be stuck with two couples on his trip.”

Gina shrugged, “I think he’ll be okay. He’s a big boy.” She paused for a moment. “You know, I feel like we’ll be here for a while. We might as well make the most of it.”

Ricky raised his brow down at her, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” she began, “let’s put together the weirdest outfits together for each other. It could be fun.”

“Would we be trying on these said outfits?”

“Of course we’d be trying them on, Bowen. What else would we be doing with them?” Gina shook her head, looking around the store.

“Woah, geez, Porter…” He raised his hands in defense, “you really know how make it easy for a guy to pretend to be in love with you.”

“That’s what I’m here for, honey pot.” She smiled up at him. “Now, shoo, go find a fun outfit for me to try on.”

So he went one way and she went the other. The store was ginormous and it became super easy for Ricky to find some pieces of clothing that would make Gina look hilariously bad.

Ricky was on his way up to the fourth floor when he saw Nini and Elias on the third floor. Nini was trying on a pair of ridiculous sunglasses and taking a picture of herself on her phone.

He sighed feeling his heart start to yearn for her and then turned away from them. He was going to have fun. And dwell later.

Once the escalator made it up to the fourth floor, he went straight to the clothing racks and browsed through them. He laughed to himself as he tried to picture Gina in any of the things he picked out, let alone all of the things he picked out. 

Then, he saw an enormous shoe section and headed straight towards it. He went up and down the aisles, searching for the best one to complete his outfit that he put together.

Considering he didn’t know Gina’s shoe size, he found a pair of large boots in a size 10 woman's. And finally he had his outfit picked out: A very large shirt, a pair of pants with a God-awful design, and to top it off a pair of boots that seemed too big.

Ricky smiled in triumph as he started to head towards the escalators to meet up with Gina. But he never made it to the escalators.

He was stopped by a familiar headstrong classmate of his. Carlos.

“Uh,” he let out. “Can I help you, Carlos?”

Carlos had a knowing look on his face, “I just wanted to know why you’re not with Gina.”

Ricky’s eyebrows furrowed, looking around the store, “Huh. You’re right. I’m not with Gina.”

Carlos rolled his eyes, “It just seems weird how the two of you already went your separate ways as soon as we all split up. That’s all.”

An amused smile spread onto Ricky’s lips, “Listen, Carlos, I appreciate your concern in the legitimacy of my relationship, but right now we’re just trying to have a little fashion show for each other. Gina’s idea.” He gestured down to all of the items in his hands.

The brunette looked down at everything in his hands. He paused for a moment, “I guess that makes sense.”

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go watch my girlfriend make this hilariously terrible outfit look absolutely adorable. See you soon, Carlos.”

And then he was off, heading towards the escalators and down to where he had first met Gina. As they planned, she was standing there waiting for him with her outfit she had picked out in her hands.

“There you are.” She said, looking up from the items in her hands.

Ricky laughed lightly, “I would’ve been here a little sooner but Carlos stopped me and once again questioned me about our relationship.”

Gina shook her head in disbelief, “He really doesn’t believe us.”

“We’ll just have to give him something to believe.” 

Gina looked at him for a moment, until she turned her attention to the clothing in his hands. A small smile appeared on her face, “Let’s do it, Bowen.”

Ricky was kind of excited. He’d never really been one to go shopping and partake in an adventure like this. Whenever he would go shopping with Nini, he’d offer to hold her clothes or tell her if she’d looked good in whatever she picked out.

They walked over to the nearest changing room and had decided that Gina would put the outfit that Ricky picked out on first. He handed her the heap of clothes that was in his hands.

She went into the dressing room and silence fell over them as Gina changed. Though there were a few mumbles coming from the curly-haired girl in the changing room, complaining about whatever Ricky had picked out for her.

As she changed, Ricky racked his brain for what to talk about with her. Finally he cleared his throat, “Oh. I forgot to tell you… Nini texted me.”

“She texted you?” Gina called from the changing room.

“Yeah. When we got to the hotel this morning.”

“Well? What’d she say?” Curiosity was evident in her voice. 

Ricky bit down on his lip, not really wanting to tell Gina what she had really said. He couldn’t tell Gina that his ex-girlfriend hated her. That’d be cruel.

“She was just surprised that I was in a relationship already. She sounded a bit upset over it.”

After a few moments, Gina emerged from the changing room wearing her outfit, “That means our plan is already working! Also, I hate you so much for this.”

Ricky burst out laughing. She wore an oversized reverse-sequin top that read “Good Vibes only”, a pair of way too big blue jeans with long tassels hanging from the waist and a pair of silver knee-high boots. The boots looked way too big on her.

“Now this is the best thing I’ve ever seen.” Ricky said between his laughs. He took his phone out from his pocket and went to take a picture of her.

“What are you doing?” Gina asked.

“Taking a picture of you. You look horrible.”

Gina glared at him for a moment before Ricky snapped the picture. Truth be told, Ricky didn’t think that she looked horrible. Honestly, if this was considered a bad outfit for her, she must look good in anything.

“Alright, fun’s over. Your turn!”

And so Ricky changed into the outfit that Gina had chosen for him. Once he changed into the outfit and stood in the changing room, staring into the mirror he decided he was never coming out again.

“You’re sick for this, Porter.”

He heard her giggle lightly, “Come on out. I want to see.”

“Nope. No way. You’re going to give me hell.”

“I showed you my outfit, now show me yours!”

Ricky squeezed his eyes shut and let out a huge sigh before opening the changing room door. Gina already had her camera out, clearing taking a video of him as he walked out.

She laughed and covered her mouth with her hand, “Oh my God.”

Ricky shook his head, looking at himself in the mirror again. She had him in a tight cheetah-print shirt accompanied by the tightest and tiniest pair of jean shorts he had ever worn in his life. On his feet were a pair of yellow platform sneakers.

“Wow, I didn’t realize how skinny your legs were. Someone needs to go to the gym.”

Ricky rolled his eyes, “Very funny.”

“Let’s get a picture of us in our outfits. I should probably post something on my Snapchat story about us.” Gina said, moving over to the mirror that Ricky stood in front of.

Ricky wrapped his arm around Gina and put a peace sign up in the air as they posed for the picture. 

“I need to get out of these shorts. They’re tight as hell in places that do not see the sun.”

Gina groaned, “I don’t know if I needed to know that.”

He shrugged, sending a smile in her direction, “Since you’re my girlfriend now, yes yes you did.”

She shook her head in response, grabbed her clothes and then went into one of the dressing rooms. Ricky mirrored her actions and they both changed out of their outfits.

━━━━━━

Some five more hours went by and Ricky’s group had almost-literally shopped-til-they-dropped on Oxford Street when they all decided to go get dinner to conclude their first day in London.

After their H&M shenanigans, Ricky and Gina had met up with their other group members and went to about twenty more stores on the shopping strip. They visited department stores, boutiques, souvenir shops, and even furniture stores. 

And now they sat in Nandos, excitedly awaiting their food as they were starving and had never been to a Nandos in their life. They had ordered at the counter and in an attempt to make it seem like they were together, Ricky paid for Gina’s food.

Nini, Elias, and Carlos all sat at one end of the table and Ricky and Gina sat at the other end. There was tension in the air that they were able to ignore before when they were all shopping, but now that they are sitting with each other for dinner, it was very present and everyone could feel it.

Ricky had never wanted to disappear more. Now, he actually had to look and make conversation with both Nini and Elias. There really wasn’t any way out of it.

“I can’t believe how many shops there are on this street alone. It felt like we went to at least twenty stores and barely scratched the surface.” Ricky’s ex-girlfriend commented in an attempt to ease the tension that loomed in the air.

“I know.” Carlos laughed, playing with the paper straw in his drink. “I’m glad I got a few things though.”

Nini laughed, “The best thing that I bought today was a shirt that says ‘I heart London’ on it. I made Elias get one too.”

The blonde stuffed his face in his hands and a groan escaped past his lips, “Oh, no, I totally forgot about those.”

“I’m making him wear it tomorrow.” Nini said proudly, nudging his side playfully.

Gina stifled a laugh, “So you’re trying to make us look even more like crazy tourists?”

Ricky pressed his lips in a line and attempted to hold in a laugh. Nini’s smile faltered for a moment and she looked over at Ricky, who was trying to hold back his amusement and then sent her a small shrug in response. She looked away from him and back at Gina, “Yeah. I just… thought it'd be fun.” 

Elias cleared his throat and pulled the brunette into his side, “Babe, it’s a cute idea. I can’t wait to wear it.”

Ricky looked at him for a moment. He really looked at him and began to wonder just what both Nini and Gina saw in him. He was super good looking, had decent style, and was one of many talents. Just like EJ Caswell, he was basically the “man” of the school and could get anyone he wanted. So why did he have to have Nini?

Maybe he could get any guy or girl if he wanted to, but for Ricky, it had always been Nini. He’d never taken interest in anyone else.

His thoughts were interrupted by Gina poking him in his side. He jumped slightly and turned his head to her. She gave him a knowing look that said “Hey dummy, why are you staring at them?”

“So, Gina-rina ,” he started, the nickname just rolling off of his tongue, “what are you most excited to see tomorrow?”

She looked back at him, a glint of amusement in her eyes as he said her nickname, “Hmm… I don’t know I think I’m most excited to go on the London Eye.”

Ricky tilted his head back in agony and sighed audibly. He forgot about the London Eye. One of his biggest fears has to be heights- he’s always hated them ever since he was little and his parents forced him to go on a ferris wheel.

Gina tilted her head, “ Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Ricky hasn’t told you?” Nini sat up in her seat.

I’m never going to hear the end of this.

“Tell me what?” Gina raised her eyebrows, looking between both Ricky and Nini.

“Ricky is deathly afraid of heights. No matter how much I would beg him every single year, he would never go on the ferris wheel with me at the State Fair.” The brunette reminisced, a small smile playing on her lips as she gazed at Ricky. 

Though she was trying to contain her amusement at this new fact she learned about Ricky, she noticed that Nini was looking at him and took Ricky’s hand in her’s, “Aw, that’s so cute. I can’t believe you never told me that you were afraid of heights.”

Carlos laughed at Ricky’s fear, “You’ll be fine, Bowen. We’re going to be in a closed in area.”

“In the sky.” He grumbled in response.

“It’s not like it’s going to get stuck.” Carlos noted.

“See, now you’re jinxing it.” Ricky stared down at the table, playing with one of the napkins in front of him. 

Gina ran her thumb along Ricky’s knuckles in an attempt to comfort him, “You’ll have me there. It’ll be okay.”

He looked up at her and his lips parted. Her eyes were just as comforting as her voice was, which somehow allowed Ricky to feel a bit better. He swallowed nervously and nodded his head, his eyebrows threading together at how convincing she sounded. Nini was right; Gina was a good actor. 

“Thanks, babe.” He put on a smile and then turned to his other classmates.

“Oh, God, get me out of here.” Carlos groaned. “Miss Jenn really set me up by putting me with two couples.”

“Aren’t you and Miss Jenn close?” Elias inquired. “Couldn’t you have pulled some strings with her?”

“Well, yes.” He responded. “But, at the time, I had no idea that Ricky and Gina were seeing each other so I figured it couldn’t be that bad.”

Elias nodded his head slowly and then looked towards the couple across from him. “You know, I would never in a million years expected Gina Porter and Ricky Bowen to get together.”

Gina sat up in her seat, “Trust me, neither did I. Ricky kind of took me by surprise and well, here we are.”

“Hey!” Ricky defended.

She looked at him with a small smile on her lips, “I’m sorry, but if you told me a year ago that I’d be dating you I would’ve laughed in your face.”

A laugh escaped Elias’ lips. Gina looked over at him and her smile grew a little brighter.

Ricky swallowed and lightly kicked her foot under the table. She looked back at him with a small glare in her eyes, “What? It’s true. You were with Nini… and just never thought it’d be in the cards.”

There were a few moments of silence after Gina had brought up Ricky’s prior relationship. It was like tension came oozing back into the room.

Carlos cleared his throat, “So, how did one of East High’s most promising and brightest students end up with the ever-so charming Ricky Bowen?”

The pair exchanged a thankful glance that they had partially already discussed this. Ricky sat up, sending a quiet glare to Carlos who had sent him a backhanded compliment.

“Uh,” he started, a small laugh escaping his lips, “it started a few weeks ago when I was hanging around Red’s pizza place as I do pretty much every night he’s working and, well, Gina had walked in with this grumpy look on her face…”

He flashed Gina a smile, who was now frowning at his made up description of the situation. He continued, “and she went right up to the counter and said the order was for EJ. Red had told her that the order still had a few minutes to finish up so she had to sit at the counter. I had never really talked to her before–”

“Okay, just so you know, I was having a bad day and EJ wanted me to go into the shop to get the food… I was a little upset.” Gina chimed in, trying to defend her honor even if it didn’t even happen.

Ricky squeezed her hand playfully, “It’s okay that you were a little grumpy. It was cute.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Yeah. Yeah.”

“Anyway,” he started again, “she looked miserable. So, kind of knowing her, I started to make conversation and she was not having it. Honestly, she was kind of rude. But, eventually, I finally made her crack a smile.” Ricky looked at her lovingly, a glint in his eyes asking for her to continue with the story.

“But then I left once I got our food. I’m not that easy.” Gina said, looking over at the others. “But, next thing I know the next day, Ricky’s at my locker practically begging me for my number.”

Of course she’d paint him as the desperate one. 

“Yup. She just really caught my eye…”

“And here we are.” Gina wrapped her arm around his shoulder and squeezed him a little too tight. “In Europe.”

Their classmates sat there, processing the information that had just been told. 

Ricky watched as Nini eyed the two of them, but it didn’t seem to be in an unconvinced way. She was more trying to understand what they saw in each other and he took that as a small victory.

“Good for you guys.” Elias finally spoke, scratching the back of his neck.

Nini swallowed, looking between the two and then her eyes rested on Ricky and Gina’s intertwined hands. After a few seconds of staring, she put on a smile, “Gina, I love your bracelet. Is it a charm bracelet?”

Ricky, who was surprised that Nini even started a conversation with her “arch-enemy”, looked down at Gina’s wrist. She wore a dainty silver bracelet, with a few small charms hanging from it.

She looked down, a genuine smile appearing on her face as she looked at her bracelet. “Oh, thanks. And yeah, it is a charm bracelet. My mom got it for me a few years back.”

Nini forced a smile, “It’s really pretty.”

Gina smiled at her and then looked down at her bracelet fondly. Before anyone else could say anything, their food had finally arrived. Ricky and Gina let go of each other’s hands and they all started eating.

The rest of their time at dinner had been occupied by forced small talk and uncomfortable silence between the five teenagers. At times, Ricky would steal glances towards his ex-girlfriend as she engaged in conversation with her current boyfriend.

Ricky and Gina continued to make an effort to make their relationship seem believable. Once they were all finished eating, they decided to go to a few more shops before they had to return back with their other classmates. 

They stopped at a few souvenir shops along the strip on their way back. Ricky and Gina had stuck together and even were getting more comfortable around being with each other. 

Ricky had made a few jokes about the merchandise in some of the shops which earned small laughs from the girl he was fake-dating. Much to Ricky’s dismay and embarrassment, Gina had even forced him to take a few pictures holding up a few ‘I heart London’ and ‘Big Ben?’ condoms.

The night went on like this and Ricky was actually having fun with Gina. He even began to wonder if Gina was enjoying herself too.

And then, it was time to leave and go back to the hotel with the rest of their classmates. Once the whole group had met back up, they all walked back to their hotel. The streets were a lot less crowded than they were earlier in the day when they walked to Oxford Street.

Ricky noted how beautiful the city was at night.

They had finally made it back to their hotel and after another round of roll call, the chaperones had let them off to go to their rooms for the night. 

Ricky, who was still standing with his group, turned to Gina, “I’ll walk you up?”

She quirked an eyebrow before nodding her head, “Okay.”

They bid their goodnights to their group members and Ricky stole one last glance at Nini before they walked over to the elevator. Once they were in the elevator, both teenagers let out a sigh of relief.

“That was one hell of a long day.” Ricky sighed.

Gina nodded her head in agreement, “I agree. But, I’d like to think that our plan seems to be working.”

“You think?” 

“Yeah. Nini is totally worked up over us being together. She hates it.”

Ricky felt a small feeling of excitement start to emerge in his stomach.

Gina laughed at him, “Don’t get too excited, Bowen. We have a lot of work to do.”

He chuckled, nodding his head, “Yeah we do.”

Beep! The elevator sounded and the doors opened. The pair exited the elevator, seeing a few of their classmates standing in the hallway. 

They walked until they got to Gina’s room. Ricky scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “Hey, uh, I just remembered that I don’t have your number… I think that could be pretty useful.”

“Aw, Bowen, you want my number? You’re catching feelings already?” The girl hummed in amusement.

Ricky scoffed amusedly, “You wish, Porter.”

After a few moments, Gina held her hand out, “Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”

And so he unlocked his phone and handed it to her. She took it and typed in her phone number in. Once she was done, she handed it back to him.

The two stood there awkwardly for a minute, not really knowing what to say. Gina looked up at him, “Well, I’ll see you in the morning, honey pot.”

Ricky looked back at her, clearly entertained by the pet name arising once again. He cracked a small smile, “Night, honey butter biscuit.”

Chapter Text

“We have a long day ahead of us, Bowen,” Gina said, looking up from her phone and turning to Ricky. “The Natural History Museum, Big Ben, and the London eye?”

The two teenagers were sitting on the motorcoach bus on their way to start their day with the Natural History Museum. The morning had passed fairly quickly for everyone: they got up, got ready, went down to breakfast at 8:30 and now they were all headed for the museum. 

“Tomorrow’s an even longer day.” Ricky grumbled, sinking down into his seat and shutting his eyes.

“Okay, one , today’s our first and last full day in London. We have to make the most of it. And two , what got your panties in a twist?” Gina shut her phone off and turned her body fully towards Ricky.

He peaked his eyes open and sighed, “Red. He brought his portable CPAP machine - which I didn’t even know they made - and it’s incredibly loud. There’s this rainforest setting that—” he paused when he noticed that Gina couldn’t seem less interested, “Nevermind. I just couldn't seem to fall asleep. It didn’t help that I went to bed at almost 4.”

“Why did you go to sleep at four in the morning?”

“We were watching some old British sitcom reruns… and then magically it was almost 4am.”

“Hm,” Gina replied, trying to assess the situation. “So because you made the poor decision to go to bed at the crack of dawn, I have to deal with your crankiness all day?”

Ricky sighed and closed his eyes again, resting his head back on the headrest, “you love spending your time with me, Porter. Cranky or not.”

“Cranky or not you’re still annoying.”

When Ricky didn’t respond, she took that as her cue to stop talking to him. He needed all the rest he could get, especially for Gina’s sake, who really didn’t want to put up with an exhausted and grumpy teenage boy for the remainder of the day. So, she put in her headphones and excitedly awaited their arrival at the museum.

She set her phone down on her lap and peered out the bus window at the city. She’s traveled to many places in her life, she’s lived in more than six different cities in the past 7 years due to her mom’s constant uprooting job, but yet she’s never seen a place that was so beautiful. 

Just compared to New York City, where her mother currently resides, it felt more friendly and welcoming than the crazy hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. It felt more historical, especially because of the architecture and even the people living here. 

It gave her a feeling of excitement in the pit of her stomach, making her yearn for more time to bask in the wonders of the city. The day prior she actually had fun exploring a small part of London with her classmates and wished their schedule today wasn’t so strict in what they do and where they go. Nonetheless, Gina was going to certainly make the most of it (even if she had to drag a crabby Ricky Bowen along with her). 

First stop was the Natural History Museum, which Gina was somewhat excited for. She’d visited the Natural History museum in New York with her mom the year prior when she was visiting during her summer vacation.

For just a moment, the memory of spending her summer with her mom caused her to desire being on this trip with her. For the last two years, she’s spent most of her time in Salt Lake City, where she was thousands of miles away from her mother. Sure, they’d spent her summers and Christmas together, but even then, the time away from one another still felt wrong. It didn’t feel right to be away from her mom.

But yet she made the choice to stay in Salt Lake City.

Gina could feel her longing to be with her mother kicking in so she instantly pushed the thought to the back of her brain. They were almost to the museum when Miss Jenn began calling attendance.

“Ricky Bowen.”

Gina averted her eyes from the scenery outside and looked at Ricky, who had somehow fallen asleep in the last ten minutes.

“…Ricky? Ricky Bowen?” Miss Jenn repeated.

Gina sighed and smacked the boy hard on his arm, causing him to jolt awake in a dazed state, “God, what the hell was that for?”

“They’re calling your name, dumbass.”

Ricky rubbed his arm tenderly, looking up at Miss Jenn who was at the head of the bus. 

“Rick–”

“Here!” He announced tiredly.

After Miss Jenn sent a small glare in his direction, he turned to Gina, “did you have to hit me that hard?”

She smiled sweetly, rubbing his arm, “Aw, babe, would you have rather had me pinch you?”

Ricky pretended to think about it, “Hm, that’s a tough one. Let me weigh my options.”

“I could’ve punched you too. That one sounds like a great option.” 

“I’d rather not have to explain to my dad when I get home why I have bruises on my body. And that they’re from all from–”

“Gina Porter.” Miss Jenn called.

Gina took her eyes off Ricky and towards the front of the bus, and called, “Here.”

The drama teacher nodded her head and checked her clipboard and continued to call names, “…Alexander Prewitt… Erin Price…”

Gina turned back to Ricky, a small smirk on her face, “Maybe I should send you home with bruises. It might just drive Nini insane wondering where they came from.”

Ricky raised his eyebrows, “ Oh? ”

She shrugged, “Just a thought.”

“Gina Porter’s mind is in the gutter, huh? Who would’ve thought?” 

She tapped his knee lightly, “You love it, babe .”

“I think I just threw up in my mouth.” 

A small laugh escaped Gina’s lips and she turned her head towards the window. The bus was slowing down which indicated that the group of travelers were arriving at the museum. 

Gina was admiring the museum and it’s structure in its entirety when she felt Ricky’s face dangerously close to hers as he was trying to look out the window. She turned her head, “Back up, Bowen, or I might actually give you one of those bruises.”

He rolled his eyes, backing up slightly, “and you say I’m the cranky one.”

She looked down at their legs, their knees were touching and Ricky was still leaning fairly close to her. It felt a little weird to her, having him almost on top of her. She glanced back up at him, a small glare on her face, “do you have any concept of personal space?”

“Am I not allowed to look out the window?”

She went to say something else but she heard Miss Jenn’s bold voice boom through the bus, “Alright kiddos, we’re here! Once we get off the bus, you are to meet up with your groups and then we will head inside.”

Within five minutes, everyone had piled off of the bus. As soon as they got off the bus, Ricky had wrapped his arm around Gina’s shoulder as they made their way over to their other group members.

Gina felt a small sense of nervousness creep into her stomach as they approached Nini and Elias. Her eyes traveled over to Elias, who’s blonde hair fell messily on his forehead. He looked like he just walked off of the pages of a magazine. 

Her eyes wandered over to Nini, who leaned into him happily and even a little more so now that she had seen her and Ricky. 

“Hey.” Gina greeted, her eyes falling on Elias for a beat too long. 

“Hi.” He had replied with a small grin on his lips as he looked between Ricky and Gina. 

Normally, Gina really wasn’t the type to have an unrealistic crush on a boy but ever since she was paired up with Elias as her lab partner in AP Chem this year, she couldn’t help but form a little crush on him.

He was so sweet, kind and was able to make Gina laugh in the middle of an important lab assignment. And it was always fun for her to imagine them being something more than being just lab partners—even if she knew it’d never happen. 

“What’s up team?” Ricky squeezed Gina a bit tighter, causing Gina to tear her eyes away from the tall blonde across from them. She refrained from making fun of how he called their group “team.”

“Other than dreading spending my day with you, Ricky, not much!” Carlos flashed a smile in his direction.

“You’re just a bucket of sunshine, aren’t you, Carlos?” Ricky replied.

Gina watched as Carlos rolled his eyes, a small smile appearing on his lips. She then looked over at Nini, who was seeming to be looking straight at her. She couldn’t really tell what she was thinking, so Gina decided to look up at Ricky.

“Babe, are you feeling a little less crabby?” She hummed, bringing her hand up to caress Ricky’s cheek.

He didn’t seem fazed by this, and at least to Gina, it seemed to almost be more natural what they were doing. They can go from being frenemies and having playful banter one minute and the next entangle themselves like they are in a real relationship.

He rolled his eyes playfully, but before he could respond, Gina turned to their other group members, “he barely got four hours of sleep. He was up all night watching British sitcoms.”

“That probably wasn’t the best idea, man.” Elias laughed lightly, shaking his head. 

Ricky forced out a laugh, “Yeah… I didn’t think that one through.”

“It’s not even like you can take a nap anytime soon.” Nini attempted to put herself in the conversation.

“Yeah, right…” Ricky replied quickly, and then an awkward silence started to loom in the air. Gina could feel the unspoken tension between the former lovers and she couldn’t think it was more awkward. They used to date and now they can barely have a conversation.

Gina cleared her throat and leaned into Ricky further, “Who’s ready to look at some fossils?”

“I was actually doing some research on, you know, what to expect and there’s a whole exhibit on Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species… get ready to be thrown back into 9th grade biology.” Elias commented as an attempt to clear whatever was in the air.

“I barely passed 9th grade biology.” Carlos said.

“Same here. Mr. Hodgson almost failed me because I never showed up to lab since I… was usually smoking behind the bleachers with Red.” Ricky reminisced of his freshman year escapades with his best friend.

“That’s very on-brand of you, Bowen.” Carlos commented snarkily. 

“Well, hopefully the two of you can get a refresher course on what you missed in 9th grade bio.” Gina said, looking up at Ricky, who looked back down at her for a moment.

The corners of his lips turned up slightly, a small laugh escaping his lips, “Can’t wait.”

Gina turned her head towards their group. Before anyone could say anything, their chaperones announced that it was time to head into the building and start to explore the museum.

Once they were in the building, the chaperones got them checked in and then all listened to their routine lecture about how they were all adults and to be on their best behaviors, they all went their separate ways to tour the museum. 

The museum was breathtakingly stunning with its high arched ceilings and memorizing design. It almost felt as if they were in a cathedral with the marble floors and the carefully crafted stairs and railings. Gina couldn’t help but take pictures so she could show her mom.

Her group decided to visit the mammal exhibit first and then go from there. Ricky had lazily put his arm around her again as they walked towards the exhibit.

“You think at night this place comes alive and turns into a whole Night at the Museum type situation? You know, like, a Theodore Roosevelt on his horse and a tiny Owen Wilson running around here at night… Cause that’d be sick. Man, I wish Red was around so I could talk to him about that.” Ricky started, looking around at all of the museum scenery as they walked.

Gina, who was looking at the map, looked up at him quizzically, “I’ve never seen that movie but I highly doubt that even happens. And am I not good enough company for you, your highness?”

“So what I’m hearing here, is that I’m your Prince?”

Gina scoffed, her eyes moving down to the map again, “God, no . You’re just very high maintenance.”

“I’m high maintenance? How? I literally just said that I wish my best friend was here with me.”

“All I’m saying is that you conned me into being your,” she looked around, now beginning to whisper, “ fake-girlfriend .”

“That doesn’t mean I’m high maintenance. Also, woah, woah, woah, wait, back up—you’ve never seen Night at the Museum?” 

“No. Why are we still on that?”

“Because it’s a classic? A timeless classic! With an iconic cast too. Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson…”

“It’s not a classic. I would’ve seen it by now.” Gina replied nonchalantly.

“Are you kidding? Everyone’s seen Night at the Museum!” Ricky exclaimed, looking around for his other classmates. He spotted their group members a bit ahead of them, “Yo, team!”

There it was again. Team. Weirdo.

They all turned to him, “Have you seen Night at the Museum?”

“Yes, Ricky,” Nini was the first to respond, “you only made me watch it five times Freshman year.”

After, both Elias and Carlos responded that, yes, they had seen the film. 

“See!” Ricky grinned down at Gina, “a classic.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Yeah, but it seems like you forced Nini to watch it.”

“I might’ve forced her, but she cried at the end every single time. Hence, a classic. Mark my words. Once we get home, I’m going to make you watch it with me. And the second and the third.”

There were three Night at the Museum movies?

She widened her eyes, “and what makes you think I’ll be hanging out with you once we get home?”

“Because by the end of this trip you’re going to realize just how much you like spending time with me.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Watch, as soon as you get home you’re going to be like “Huh, I kind of miss Ricky. He’s a blast to hang out with and I miss his beautiful face.”” 

Gina scoffed, “In your dreams, Bowen. I’m going to run as far as I can from you when I get back home. Also, when did you suddenly get into a better mood?”

“Because you got me hyped about Night at the Museum.”

“You’re literally a little kid, aren’t you?”

“No shame in that, Gina-rina. We’re all kids at heart.”

Gina paused for a moment, looking around to see if anyone was around. When no one was around it was usually ‘Porter’ or the occasional ‘honey butter biscuit’. This was different.

She really didn’t know how to respond to that, so she didn’t. And before she knew it, they were finally in the mammals exhibit where they were greeted by large statues of different mammal skeletons.

The pair of teenagers started to walk around the exhibit and examine each of the mammal skeletons, look at their fossils and read over the information for each of them. It was all actually very interesting to Gina, at least.

After ten minutes of silence, the pair stood in front of an elephant statue. Gina was reading about elephants and their fossil relatives when she turned to Ricky, who was staring up at the elephant statue, “In your movie, would this elephant come alive at night?”

His eyes lit up, “Yes. Yes it would.”

Gina smiled slightly at his reaction and turned back to reading about African elephants. A few moments later, the two teenagers ended up standing in front of a moose statue.

She was pretty invested in reading about different antlers and horns, when Ricky laughed lightly next to her. She turned to him with her brows raised, “What’s so funny?”

“What do you call a cross between a hippopotamus and something that is not a moose?”

“Are you really making a moose joke right now?”

“Come on, I’m really bored, I have to pass time somehow.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “What do you call it?”

“A hippo-not-a-moose.”

Gina stared at him for a moment. She tried to hide the small laugh that was bubbling in her chest, but ultimately failed, “Where did you even find that?”

“There is this thing called the internet.”

“Well, it is far too clever for it to be something that you came up with.”

“I’m wounded.”

The next hour went a lot like this: Gina trying to stay interested in the exhibit while she had Ricky following her around, coming up with any way to cure his boredom. Luckily, they had stayed far enough away from their other group members to not have to put up their fake-dating act.

Once they all made it through the mammals exhibit, much to Ricky’s dismay, their group had decided to visit the bird exhibit since it was close by. The bird exhibit was down a wide hallway with detailed high ceilings. Gina couldn’t believe just how beautiful a bird exhibit could be. 

Since it was just a hallway and they could easily see and hear everything that Nini, Elias and Carlos were doing, Ricky put his arm loosely around Gina.

They read about each and every bird that was in the cases and Gina was a bit worried that Ricky would fall asleep on her arm. This wasn’t exactly the most interesting exhibit. 

“Birds. I hate birds.” Ricky mumbled, looking at the time at his phone.

“Birds hate you.” Gina replied while trying to read about the origin of owls.

“I don’t want their love.” 

“Lucky birds.” 

After their group was finished touring the bird displays, they then went to the Earth Hall where they learned more about different fossils, volcanos, and even mountains. 

Ricky and Gina were able to be away from each other for these displays. Ricky walked around some of the exhibits on his own and at his own pace. Gina’s mind had begun to wonder if he was doing any spying on his ex-girlfriend (he probably was).

Once everyone had gone to the Human Evolution gallery, Ricky had found his way back to Gina. The two of them wandered the exhibit in silence, while they were examining different fossils and skulls of their ancient ancestors. 

After a while, Gina had looked over at Ricky, who was covering his mouth and attempting to hide the yawn that was escaping his mouth. Halfway through the yawn, their eyes met and she sighed audibly.

“Bowen, you can’t at least pretend to be interested in this? We’re here at least another hour.”

“I can’t help that I, for one, got almost four hours of sleep and that this exhibit is boring as hell.”

“Well, that’s a you problem.”

“Come on, Porter, you can’t tell me that human evolution actually interests you.”

She laughed lightly, shaking her head, “I mean to a certain extent it does.”

“No wonder I barely passed bio… this stuff… it’s just so dull and boring.” He said, sighing. “I could really go for a blunt right now.”

Gina had almost forgotten about Ricky’s reputation of being the school’s stoner. “You can’t last ten days without smoking?”

“I can but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

After their group finished the Human Evolution gallery, they went to tour their final exhibit in the museum. The five of them walked together through the hallways, occasionally passing some of their other classmates, until they made it to the entrance of the dinosaur exhibit.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me that we’re going to the dinosaur exhibit?” Ricky had suddenly exclaimed. 

Gina looked up at him, lifting her eyebrow, “ Now you’re excited? For dinosaurs?”

Ricky looked down at her as if she had three heads, “and you’re not excited to learn about dinosaurs? Dinosaurs are dope!”

“I agree.” Elias said. “This is probably going to be the best exhibit yet.”

Gina watched Ricky’s smile falter for a moment, before nodding his head, “See? It’s something that actually interests me, babe.”

Attempting to come off as playful, she rolled her eyes, “Fine. Let’s go learn about dinosaurs, cutie.”

Gina ignored the feeling of Nini staring right at her and smiled right up at Ricky, who put his arm around her shoulders. They bid their goodbyes to their group members and walked through the entrance of the exhibit.

They turned right and immediately went over to the glass case with some type of dinosaur skull inside. Within the few minutes they had been there, Ricky had not stopped talking about each dinosaur fossil they had come across.

“Oh shit—this is a skull of a Triceratops? I think?” He looked down at the plaque and then immediately laughed. “I was right. A triceratops. Did you know that Triceratops are herbivores?”

Gina looked at him as if he had two heads, “I think I’ve heard something like that before.” This is the most excited she had ever seen him (considering she’s only known him a few days). 

“Hm,” He said, while looking at the skull inside the glass case, “I think I read somewhere that T. Rexs preyed on Triceratops… I wonder if there’s anything about T. Rexs here.” 

Gina laughed, shaking her head, “Jeez, Bowen, who knew you were such a nerd over dinosaurs?”

He looked down at her and rolled his eyes, “I had a huge dinosaur phase when I was younger. I can’t help it.”

She thought back to his comment earlier about how “we’re all kids at heart” and she smiled lightly, looking away from him and then moved onto the next display case. 

This went on for a while, basically with every single display case they saw of a dinosaur, Ricky would excitedly spit out a few facts as Gina stood by and watched. She actually learned quite a bit about dinosaurs from him and the exhibit itself.

Ricky was quite memorized with the Iguanodon and  Baryonyx dinosaur fossils, until Gina tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the rather large dinosaur skeleton at the head of the exhibit, “Is that a T. Rex?”

“Uh, hell yeah it is!” He quickly made his way over to the skeleton display. 

He was like a little boy in a candy store looking up at the large Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. She couldn’t believe how he hated every single exhibit, complained in each and every one, but once he saw a dinosaur skeleton he almost fainted (literally). 

Gina shook her head, opening her phone and snapping a picture of him looking up at the skeleton on display. 

He looked over at Gina, a small smile spreading across his lips as he walked over to her, “Now this,” he pointed up at the skeleton, “is sick . I wish Red was here to see this with me.”

“Is he obsessed with dinosaurs too? Why is that not a surprise?”

He nodded his head proudly, “Of course. Red and I are obsessed with the Jurassic Park movies—we have movie marathons all the time.”

Gina laughed, “You guys are such nerds.”

“We’re not nerds! Have you ever seen the Jurassic Park movies? Do I have to add that to the list?”

“I’ve actually seen the original three.”

Ricky went to say something, but something caught his gaze behind Gina. She watched as his eyes narrowed and his face turned from an overly-excited expression to sadness clouding his features. 

She followed his gaze behind her to see Nini, alone, reading one of the plaques on a display. 

“Hey, Nini!” Gina called over to the brunette, who was admiring an old dinosaur fossil of some sort. She perked up and Gina waved her over to them.

“What’s up?”

“Can you take a picture of me and Ricky?”

Gina felt Ricky look down at her quickly as in “why did you just ask my ex-girlfriend to take a picture of us?”

“Ricky’s obsessed with this T. Rex skeleton and won’t shut up about it. I already got like twenty pictures of him in front of it but I think it would be just so cute if we got one together! Don’t you think, Nini?”

Nini swallowed uncomfortably and forced out a laugh, looking around to see if Elias was around, then looked back at them. She nodded her head, “Yeah, totally… that’s so… really cute. Sounds like Ricky.”

Gina smiled in triumph, especially after seeing how uncomfortable Nini looked to be even talking to the two of them alone. Elias must have wandered off somewhere else without her.

She held out her phone for Nini to take. Once she did, Gina grabbed (more like yanked) Ricky, and pulled her close into him (with force, might she add). She felt Ricky lean into her and his arm slide around her waist.

It was a weird feeling; being this close to Ricky, one that was hard to describe. She ignored it and smiled for the picture, leaning her head on his shoulder like she had countless times before. 

Once Nini snapped the picture, she started to point the phone down. Gina furrowed her eyebrow, trying to think of another way to really tug and Nini’s heartstrings. 

She felt Ricky pulling away from her so she squeezed his arm to stay beside her, “Wait, Nini, can you take just one more?”

The brunette girl nodded her head stiffly and brought the phone up to take another photo. Ricky smiled again and then in one swift movement, Gina brought her lips up to Ricky’s cheek. 

She felt Ricky freeze underneath her, and after a moment she let go. Now that felt weird, having their faces that close to one another. She tried to put a smile on and then turned to Nini, who looked like she wanted to get out of there.

Nini held out her phone for Gina to take. She watched carefully as her face twisted in a look of both discomfort and disgust. It was almost humorous; the fact that she couldn’t even hide how upset it made her. For someone who got the lead in last year’s musical, she could not act. 

Gina let go of Ricky and grabbed her phone, scrunching her nose, “Thank you so much. I gotta get a good one for Instagram, you know?”

She forced out a laugh, “Definitely.” After a few moments of silence, she looked back at Ricky, then to Gina, clearing her throat, “Um, I’m gonna get back… to Elias. He’s probably looking for me.”

“Right. See you later!” Gina smiled sweetly, then turned back to Ricky, who mumbled a goodbye to his ex-girlfriend.

He looked back at Gina with a glare. She rolled her eyes in response, “What?”

Ricky looked around, and then took Gina by the wrist, and pulled her towards a place where they could talk privately. Gina laughed, wondering why he was overreacting so much. 

“What’s the problem, Bowen? Are you that scared of me kissing you?”

Ricky scoffed, “No! I don’t care—I mean, I do care but remember our rule? Rule number three? No kissing?”

“I’m not actually going to kiss you!” Gina whisper-yelled. “Besides, I kissed you on the cheek! It barely even counts as a kiss.”

“Yeah, but did you see how upset it made her?”

“God, Bowen, that’s the point. You know, rub some salt into her wound… make it hurt, we’re trying to make her jealous—remember?”

“Of course I remember! But I don’t know… it just seemed a little harsh. Maybe even a little evil. Especially after seeing her reaction.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “If I’m your fake-girlfriend I should at least be able to kiss you on the cheek. Look, I didn’t actually kiss you… I’m sure that would hurt a hell of a lot worse than what I just did.” She paused. “Anyway, my little stunt seemed to work wonders. We’re definitely convincing her.”

After a moment of thinking about it, Ricky bit down on his lip and nodded his head. “Yeah… yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“You’re forgetting that I’m always right!” A small grin appeared on her lips.

He rolled his eyes, “You really need to stop with that.”

“ Oh this is gold. ”

Both their heads snapped in the direction of the familiar voice: Carlos. 

Gina’s lips parted as she saw their classmate, standing a few feet away from them with his arms crossed. He stood there with a look of complete surprise across his face. 

“Carlos–” Ricky sputtered out.

He shook his head in disbelief, “You know, after I ran into you yesterday in H&M I gladly believed that the two of you were actually a couple. But, this… wow. This is really something.”

Gina couldn’t believe that they had just let themselves get caught by Carlos, out of all people. He was the only other person in their group, who now had the power to just blow up their plan any second if he really wanted to. 

“Carlos, you can’t–” Gina began, but he cut her off. 

He looked around, “Tell anyone?”

“Yes. You can’t tell anyone .” Ricky said quietly, his eyes scanning the rest of the exhibit room. There wasn’t anyone else to worry about in sight.

“I really can’t believe the two of you. I mean, poor Nini. She seems to be so distraught over this.” 

Gina crossed her arms, “That is the point, Carlos.”

He paused for a moment, eyeing the two of them carefully, “Now I understand why Ricky here would want to do this, but what's in it for you, Gina? Is he paying you?”

“It’s none of your business.” Gina replied coldly. He was really starting to get on her nerves.

“Hm. Very interesting.” He nodded his head slowly. 

Ricky stepped forward, “Dude, you cannot tell anyone. I really want Nini back and this is kind of like a last resort thing, so please just don’t mess this up for me.”

Gina sighed lightly, looking from Ricky to Carlos, “And if you tell anyone, and I mean anyone - even Seb or EJ - I will personally make sure that you won’t make it to graduation.”

She hoped her threat was enough to keep his mouth shut. They usually help her in these situations.

His eyes widened slightly, and then he sighed, “Fine. But don’t expect me not to have some fun with this. Now it makes this trip ten times more exciting.”

“Wow, I’m so happy for you.” Gina mumbled. She turned to Ricky, giving him a dirty look, “How did you not see him standing there?”

He frowned, “How did I not see him? How did you not see him?”

“You’re the one who took us in this open exhibit room! It’s your fault–”

“It’s my fault? There’s two of us here and if you didn’t kiss me on–” Ricky stopped mid-sentence once he heard a laugh escape Carlos’ lips.

“I prefer this Ricky and Gina. You’re much more entertaining to be around.”

A groan escaped Gina’s lips, “Shut up, Carlos.”

He pressed his lips together, then looked down at his phone, “As much as I would like to stay here and watch the two of you go back and forth… we have to be back at the main entrance in ten minutes.” 

━━━━━━

The group of East High students left the museum about twenty minutes later and headed to a local sit-down restaurant for a late lunch before they headed to visit Big Ben. 

Ricky and Gina were still on edge knowing that Carlos had recently gained knowledge of their little arrangement. The two of them continued to act like a couple as much as they could while ignoring the knowing eye of their group member for the rest of the afternoon until they left for their next destination. 

The drive to see Big Ben was short and their bus let off on the Vauxhall Bridge. The students got off and then their chaperones once again began calling off their names. 

Once roll call was finished and the chaperones let them off, Ricky turned to Gina, who was looking up at the clock tower, “This is kind of underwhelming.”

She laughed, “It’s kind of cool. But I agree… I thought it’d be bigger.”

“Hey guys!” Their heads followed the voice of Big Red, and their eyes landed on him and Ashlyn, who were walking towards them. 

“Hey man!” Ricky ran over to his best friend and put his arm around him, “How’d you like the museum?”

Big Red shrugged, “It was actually pretty fun—especially the dinosaur exhibit! Turns out EJ is really into dinosaurs too.” 

Gina couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. How is everyone into dinosaurs? Is it like a universal phase for guys?

She turned to Ashlyn, sighing, and whispered, “Carlos knows.”

The redhead widened her eyes, “He knows? How’d he figure it out?”

Gina glared over at the curly haired boy, “That dumbass decided to confront me about kissing him on the cheek in front of Nini in broad daylight. I was just trying to make her jealous.”

Ashlyn tilted her head in surprise, “Interesting… so… so you kissed him on the cheek?”

“Yes but only to make Nini jealous! It’s literally what I’m here for.”

Ashlyn nodded her head slowly, “Okay… So what are you going to do about Carlos?”

“I guess just try to keep his mouth shut as best as we can.” Gina shrugged, looking around her surroundings for Carlos. She saw him leaning on the railing of the bridge while talking to Seb. “I don’t know… I just hope he doesn’t use it against us in any way.”

“Sometimes Carlos can be intense… you really don’t know what you’re getting into with him.” Ashlyn commented, looking over at him too. 

“Anyway,” Gina sighed, “how was your museum tour?”

“It was actually pretty chill. Kourtney and EJ were pretty much talking to each other the whole time, so I was hanging with Big Red most of the time.”

“Ah,” Gina said, looking up at Big Ben, “how’s EJ’s plan coming along? You know, with Kourt? I haven’t gotten to talk to him in a while.”

“I think it’s going as planned. She’s definitely into him, but I have no idea what she even sees in him. He’s such a pain in the ass,” Ashlyn joked, taking out her phone and taking a picture of the river and the Elizabeth Tower.

Gina laughed, “I agree. Imagine having a crush on EJ Caswell.”

Ashlyn chuckled then held out her phone in front of her. “Hey, Gi, get a picture with me.” 

The two girls got together and posed for a picture, attempting to get Big Ben in the picture with them as best as they could. They laughed together at the pictures that they took and Gina turned to her, “I wish we could spend more of the trip together rather than just being roommates.”

“I know… me too. But it can’t be that bad spending all your time with Ricky.”

Gina rose her brows, “You’re kidding. It’s torture.”

Ashlyn shrugged, “From what I can see, the two of you have fun together.”

She looked over at Ricky, who was pointing at something in the distance for Big Red to look at. She looked back at her friend, “I don’t know what I thought of Ricky Bowen before this trip but he’s definitely more annoying than I thought he’d be.”

“I think it’s good for you, you know hanging out with him. You’ll have one more friend to add to your list next to me and EJ.”

Gina sighed, “Yeah, well, I’m okay with the two of you being my only friends. I don’t want to dread leaving another person behind in Salt Lake once I leave.”

She noticed her close friend start to frown at the thought of Gina leaving Salt Lake City for good so she took her hand and squeezed it, “We’ve got time, Ash. Let’s not think about that right now. Look! We’re in front of Big Ben!” She giggled.

A small smile crept onto Ashlyn’s lips, “You’re right.”

“Hey friends.” Big Red greeted, with Ricky by his side.

The girls turned to them.

“Hey.” Ashlyn and Gina both said in unison.

“I’m pretty sure that we’re going to be heading over to the London Eye soon. And I’m pretty sure we’re walking.” Big Red mentioned, turning to Ricky, who looked a bit uneasy. “You excited, dude?”

He glared at his best friend, feigning excitement, “So excited!” 

Gina chuckled, “Are you seriously that scared of heights?”

He sent her a small glare too, “Yes, yes I am.”

It couldn’t possibly be that bad, especially since they’ll be in an enclosed box. She ignored this and decided to take a look at her surroundings—her classmates were taking pictures all around them while their chaperones all chatted among themselves.

After another twenty minutes of conversing with her friends and taking pictures of the city around them, it was finally time to head to the London Eye. Their chaperones told them to gather in their groups as they walked, so unfortunately they had to say goodbye to Big Red and Ashlyn. 

Ricky involuntarily put his hand in Gina’s once he saw Nini and Elias walking towards them. Gina looked down at her hand. Ricky had intertwined their fingers.

Carlos had made his way towards them too. He had a grin on his face that looked exceptionally wicked now that he knew of Ricky and Gina’s act. 

“Hey beautiful people.” He beamed, rocking on his feet.

Nini laughed, “What got you in such a good mood?”

Carlos glanced at the pair quickly and then back to Nini and shrugged, “I’m just in an exceptionally good mood, Nini. I think it was the museum… I just got to learn so many new things.”

She paused and looked up at Elias, who shrugged slightly. She looked back at him and laughed again, “Alright. Good for you, Carlos.”

He nodded and glanced over at Ricky and Gina, “So how’s the happy couple? Ready to go on the ginormous Ferris wheel?” 

“We’re good. Thanks, Carlos.” Gina said sweetly, staring right into his eyes. She was trying to send him a telepathic message to (kindly) fuck off. 

“Do you have to remind me of this Ferris wheel?” Ricky laughed nervously, his eyes flickering over to Nini for a moment.

“Oh, I almost forgot you’re scared of heights.” Carlos replied.

“Thanks for the reminder. I think everyone wants to remind me of that today.”

“Babe, it’s going to be fine.” Gina squeezed his hand, and looked up at him with a warm smile. She could tell was starting to get nervous but nodded his head.

A few more minutes passed with small talk among their group, until it was time to start walking. The walk started out with conversation among the teenagers and then turned into a comfortable silence as everyone took in the beautiful city.

It was a peaceful walk until Gina realized the severity of Ricky’s fear of heights. She could feel his hand getting clammy as they neared the large Ferris wheel. He was clearly uneasy, nervousness basically taking over his whole body.

“You need to calm down. We’re not even there yet.”

“Well I can see it from here and it’s pretty damn high, Porter.”

“We’re going to be inside a ball that’s attached to it. It’s safe, Bowen.”

“That’s what they all say.” He mumbled, dropping his hand from hers and wiping his palm on his jeans.

Gina frowned at the loss of contact and sighed, “Listen, if you don’t want to go on, you don’t have to. I’ll even stay off with you…”

Ricky looked down at her and his lips parted. He shook his head, “No… no. I’m not letting you miss it! You said you were most excited for this. Besides, we already paid for the tickets so it’d just be a waste of fifty dollars, alright?”

“But you might pass out? That’s not worth it.”

“I’m not wasting fifty dollars. I’ll just close my eyes the entire time.”

“For a half an hour?”

“It’s a half hour ?”

“How long did you think it was?”

“Ten minutes!” He exclaimed, looking up at the large Ferris wheel that they were nearing with wide eyes. 

Gina shook her head and let out an audible sigh, “You can survive this thirty minutes, Bowen.”

The entire group stopped once they were at the entrance. They were a large group among all of the other tourists who were visiting the infamous Ferris wheel. Their chaperones gave them the run down: stay with your group, once you get off the wheel meet in this same spot for the rest of the class, and be on your best behavior.

So the group of teenagers got into the line with their groups. After getting their tickets scanned and checked in, they all waited for their turn to get into a capsule. 

Gina could feel the eyes of Carlos on her while they were in line as Ricky bounced nervously on his feet. Also, she had noticed Nini giving Ricky a sympathetic look since she knows how much he hates the idea of Ferris wheels.

After a ten minute wait, Gina and the rest of her group had made their way into one of the capsules. They were accompanied by another group from their class, who none of them really talked to.

Ricky immediately went straight to the bench in the middle of the capsule. His knee was bouncing up and down in a nervous manner and Gina sighed, following him over to the bench and sitting right next to him.

The capsule doors closed and the Ferris wheel began moving. 

Gina’s eyes met Carlos’ who smiled at her knowingly from the railing in front of the glass window. She rolled her eyes and looked out the window from where she sat. The sun was lower in the sky as they were nearing the evening and the city lights were starting to become noticeable.

“You,” Ricky started, “you can go up to the railing… I’m fine.”

Gina raised her brow. Ricky nodded his head to reassure him that he would be fine (for now). She got up and walked over to Carlos, who was taking pictures of the city in front of them as they got higher in the sky.

She took her phone out and began to snap pictures of the city. She sent a quick text to her mom along with a picture to let her know what they were doing. 

“Shouldn’t you be sitting with your boyfriend?” Carlos asked, breaking their silence.

Gina looked over at him with a glare, “He’s fine.”

“He’s sweating buckets.”

Gina looked back at him and then she lifted her eyes to look at Nini and Elias. The tall blonde had his arm snaked around Nini’s waist, while she had her head resting on his shoulder as they viewed the city. They looked like they were having a light-hearted conversation while they laughed together. Gina ignored the jealousy that was creeping up on her neck and averted her eyes back to Ricky.

He was trying to preoccupy himself with his phone so she turned back to the view in front of her. 

For the next ten minutes, the capsule had stopped a few times and then started back up, still rising higher in the sky. Occasionally, Gina would make her way over to Ricky to check on him but he would assure her that he was fine, even if he looked uneasy.

After a while, their capsule was nearing its highest point and Gina decided to sit down next to Ricky despite his pleas not to. 

The wheel had stopped at its highest point. Ricky was staring down at the floor of the capsule, trying not to look at the view all around him. His knee was bouncing and Gina could see his hands shaking.

She genuinely had no clue how to calm him down, which was making her almost as nervous as him. She let out a deep breath and scanned the room. Her brown eyes were met with Nini’s worried gaze as she looked between both her and Ricky.

Gina sent a small smile her way and then looked at Ricky. She noticed his breathing was uneven, so she gently set her hand on his back and began involuntarily rubbing it slowly. 

“Stop freaking out.” Gina whispered, sitting down next to Ricky, who was doubled over as if he was in a large amount of pain. “We’re not really stuck. It’s just stopping so we can see the view.”

“ I know ,” he breathed out, “but how is that supposed to help my problem? We’re hundreds of feet high in the sky - in a small ass glass box may I add - that could just fall off the hinges of this thing and then we all could fall to our death!”

Gina bit down on her lip. He was literally in panic mode and she didn’t know how to help him. She looked around him and was receiving judging glances from her classmates in the other group. She sent them a “mind your business” glare and turned back to Ricky.

She sighed, “It’s okay. We’re not going to fall to our death. I promise.”

He looked up at her, “And how do you know that?”

“Because I know, okay?”

He let out a heavy breath and closed his eyes shut. Gina sat a bit closer to him and set her free hand on his knee. He tensed a bit under her touch.

“Ricky,” she said softly, “look at me.”

After a few seconds he looked up. 

“Just keep looking at me. You’re fine.”

So he did. He looked at her and swallowed nervously. Gina wasn’t sure how she felt staring at Ricky like this, it just caused a weird feeling to form between them. In a way, it felt intimate.

“Just breathe.” She whispered. “Breathe with me.”

“Inhale.” She inhaled and he followed her lead.

“Exhale.” She exhaled and so did he. The two of them did this for the next minute. Gina had hoped that it was calming his anxiety.

After a while, she felt him become less tense underneath her touch. With every deep breath, she felt him become calmer. And after a while, he broke their eye contact and was doing this breathing exercise on his own. 

The next few minutes passed and the wheel had begun to move again, this time descending from their height in the sky. Gina sat with Ricky the rest of the way, until they were close to the ground and Ricky was able to stand up from the bench.

She nudged him, “You did it, Bowen.”

He let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah—barely.”

Gina rolled her eyes and went to say something but Nini and Elias had appeared next to them as they waited to get off of the wheel. 

“Hey, man, you alright?” Elias asked, patting Ricky hard on the shoulder. 

“Uh, yeah… yeah. Thanks.” Ricky forced a smile, his eyes wandering over to Nini. “Not a big fan of heights… obviously.” 

“At least it’s over, you know?” Nini said stiffly, a small smile on her lips.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He nodded his head, his eyes lingering on Nini for a moment. Gina was about to make a fake-girlfriend move but the doors of the capsule had opened and everyone exited the wheel.

Now it was time to wait for the rest of their classmates. Ricky and Gina had spotted a bench to sit on while they waited. 

As they sat down, they were greeted by Carlos. He had a small smirk playing on his lips. 

“What now, Carlos?” Ricky asked, sighing, and sitting back on the bench. 

“Oh nothing… just wanted to say that was a pretty realistic stunt you pulled back there.”

“Because it was real. He wasn’t faking his–”

“Oh I know.” Carlos said, crossing his arms. “It’s just that the two of you almost convinced me that you were a couple. Again.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “It’s called acting.”

“Didn’t look like acting to me.”

“Dude, she was basically helping me through my anxiety, it's nothing.” Ricky said sitting up on the bench. 

“Alright. Fine…” he trailed, looking around and tapping his foot on the ground. “Oh, there’s Seb. If you’ll excuse me I’m going to go talk to him.”

“Wait Carlos!” Gina called after him as he started to walk away. He turned to her, “Remember not to tell a soul or–”

“I won’t be making it to graduation. Got it.”

After twenty minutes passed, all of their classmates had gotten off of the Ferris wheel and it was time to get going to dinner. Their chaperones let all of them go off and choose where they wanted to go for dinner, as long as they stayed with their designated groups. 

The next two hours went by fairly quickly. Their group had met up with Ashlyn and Big Red’s group for dinner. Gina sat with Ashlyn and EJ, while Ricky sat with Big Red. 

Gina had missed just spending time with Ashlyn and EJ, even if it had only been two days away from them. It felt nice to sit down with them, talk about their days and what their experiences have been in London so far. 

Once dinner was over and they shopped around the near gift shops for some last minute London souvenirs, it was finally time to head back to their hotel for the night. The ride back to the hotel was quiet, at least for Ricky and Gina, as Ricky was exhausted since he was still running on three and a half hours of sleep.

As everyone gathered in the hotel, without a word, Ricky had walked Gina up to her room again. She didn’t mind though, it was one of their only times where they were actually alone and away from the judging eyes of their peers. 

“That was quite the eventful day,” Gina said in the elevator.

Ricky laughed tiredly, “Oh yeah. It was fun though.”

“I agree.” She said as the doors opened to her floor. The two exited the elevator and made their way down the hallway silently.

Gina opened her wallet and grabbed her room key, turning to Ricky with a small smile, “Night.”

He nodded slowly, “Night.”

She turned to open her door.

“Hey, Gina,”

She turned back to him, her brows raised, "Yeah?"

“Uh, thanks for what you did for me earlier. You know, calming me down on the Ferris wheel. It really helped.”

After a few moments, she nodded her head, a small smile playing on her lips, “Get some sleep, Bowen. We’re headed for Berlin tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

“Seriously, Red, who the hell are you texting? Your phone has been buzzing nonstop the past hour!” Ricky exclaimed as he shoved his clothes back into his suitcase.

Red peeked his head out from the bathroom, “That’s none of your business, my dear Ricky.”

“You’ve been keeping this secret from me the past two days and I’m dying over here, dude! Just give me something.” The boy groaned, walking over to the nightstand and grabbing his phone charger.

“Give me a few more days, dude, I don’t want to mess this thing up with him… or whatever it is - I mean I think that it’s a thing? Unless I totally made it up in my head…” Big Red rambled on from the bathroom.

“So there is a him ? A living breathing boy somewhere out there?” 

“Dude!” His best friend replied, attempting to act offended as he made his way out of the bathroom, “And yeah yeah… there’s a guy.”

Ricky grinned triumphantly, “This is great, Red! You’re talking to a guy! You haven’t talked to a guy since… since…”

“Never?”

Ricky pressed his lips in a thin line, “Well there was that one cashier when we went bowl–”

“The straight cashier? That lasted a whole five minutes and then I tripped in front of him and got my fries all over the floor. A complete nightmare.”

“He thought it was cute! I was there, remember.”

Big Red rolled his eyes, “Dude, your gaydar is questionable for someone who likes guys too. Remember you tried setting me up with Garrett Linsburg and he just thought I was trying to hook him up with some pot?”

Ricky thought back to that time. He laughed, “Yeah, that was a bit of a bust. Garrett’s a douche anyway. Did you give him any though?”

“Well since I thought it was a date yes, yes I did. For free.”

Ricky sighed, “Isn’t Garrett on this trip? Can’t we just get him to pay you back?”

Big Red snorted, “He wants nothing to do with me after he found out that I thought it was a date. He almost hit his head on the bleachers.”

“If only he actually hit his head on the bleachers…” Ricky hummed, sitting down on his bed. “So, how’d you and mystery boy start talking?”

“That’s a secret. I don’t want to mess it up, remember? I think it’s going good… I mean I hope it is. And I hope he likes me! He sends me these really funny gifs of dogs dancing—it’s kind of an inside joke… did you and Nini have inside jokes? I really don’t know if he’s being friendly or being friendly, you know? It’s hard to tell over text!” Big Red babbled, playing with the hem of his flannel shirt. 

“Red, I’m sure that if he’s texting you as much as he is that he likes you.” Ricky laughed. “And I really can’t remember if Nini and I had any inside jokes… but I’m sure that it means something!”

Red frowned slightly, “You guys didn’t have a single inside joke?”

“I don’t think it’s a big deal, dude.” Ricky rolled his eyes. For the life of him, he really couldn’t think of a single inside joke that they had. Nini wasn’t really too funny, although he would try to laugh at her jokes.

Big Red scrunched his nose, crossing his arms, “Fine. But if this dog gif is just a “we’re friends” gif then you won’t see me all summer.”

“Hm, you really like him, huh?” He smirked at his best friend.

His cheeks burned a bright crimson color and then smiled lightly, “I guess so.”

As if on cue, Big Red’s phone buzzed. He grabbed it almost instantly and let out a hearty laugh as he looked down at his phone. He looked up at Ricky, his smile growing wider and wider.

Ricky raised his brows, “Dog gif?”

The redhead nodded his head, “I gotta send one back!”

“I seriously need to figure out who this guy is. Maybe I’ll steal your phone when you aren’t looking. That sounds like a grand idea, Ricky.” He smiled and patted himself on his back.

“Well, I’ll tell Nini all about you and Gina.” Big Red grinned deviously at his best friend.

Ricky’s lips parted, “You wouldn’t.”

“We’ll see…” He shrugged. “Hey, speaking of Gina, are you sitting with her on the flight?”

Ricky shrugged his shoulders, “Uh, I’m not sure. We haven’t talked about it. Why?”

“Oh just wondering. I just don’t know if you want to sit with me or her.”

His mouth twisted, thinking about whether or not he should ask Gina if they’re sitting together. Are they sitting together? Would it be weird for them not to sit together? Would people be suspicious? Does Gina want to sit with him? All of these questions ran through his mind, “I’ll have to ask her.”

“Alright, cool, just let me know.” Big Red replied, then started to zip up his suitcase. “What time do we have to be down in the lobby?”

Ricky grabbed his phone and checked the time, “We have fifteen minutes.”

The two boys continued to pack the rest of their stuff, checked the rest of their room for any loose items and then laid on their beds until it was time for them to go down to the lobby. 

They grabbed their bags and left their room and saw some of their classmates also leaving their rooms too. They squeezed in the elevator with their peers and then made it to the lobby.

They saw the rest of their classmates and the chaperones, who were all waiting for the rest of the group to arrive downstairs. Ricky immediately saw Nini standing next to Elias, EJ and Kourtney. Ricky frowned slightly, seeing Nini laughing with her friends and then looked away, starting to look for Gina.

Neither she or Ashlyn were nowhere to be found so both Big Red and Ricky stood near the front desk. 

Ricky turned to the redhead, “You ready to see some wax figures and a really old palace?”

“Dude I’m actually kind of excited to see the wax figures. Too bad the One Direction ones are gone.” Big Red sighed audibly.

“There’s One Direction wax figures?”

“There was . I’m sure it was a sad day in London when they were escorted out.”

Ricky laughed at his best friend, rolling his eyes. “You’re so weird, dude.”

Big Red went to say something but was interrupted by Ashlyn’s voice cutting their conversation short, “Hey, Red! Hey Ricky.”

Their eyes snapped towards the two girls walking towards them with their bags in hand. “Hey, Ashlyn! Hi Gina.” Big Red replied happily.

“Hey.” Ricky nodded his head, his eyes moving to Gina, who was already looking up at him.

“Hey, honey pot.” Gina smirked slightly as she set her backpack on the floor. 

Ricky couldn’t help but laugh lightly, not expecting the pet name to arise in front of their friends, “Good morning, honey butter biscuit.”

She shook her head at his horrible nickname, a small smile cracking on her lips. 

“Honey pot?” Ashlyn exclaimed, the name falling off her tongue with clear distaste.

“ Honey butter biscuit? What kind of name is that?” Red’s eyes flickered between the fake-couple.

Ricky looked over at Gina for a moment and then to his best friend, “It’s a long story, dude.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of an inside joke.” Gina said to Big Red.

Ricky nodded his head slowly and then his eyes met his best friend’s. He was looking up at him quizzically, his mind clearly going back to the conversation they had just a half hour before. The curly haired boy shrugged, and mouthed “it’s nothing.” 

Big Red’s gaze lingered on the pair for a few moments longer, until the chaperones started calling attendance. 

After attendance was called, the group of teenagers all handed in their room keys and they were off to explore London a bit more until it was time to head to the airport. 

After everyone loaded their luggage onto the buses and got settled in, Ricky and Gina sat next to each other on the bus to Madame Tussaud’s and were making small talk as usual. The ride to the wax museum wasn’t long and they were there in no time.

“You excited to see some wax figures, Bowen?” Gina turned to him once they were off the bus and heading inside.

“It’ll be a hell of a lot more fun than the Natural History Museum of boring.” Ricky mustered up a grin and wrapped his arm around Gina.

“It wasn’t that bad. And besides, you were literally dying over the dinosaur exhibit, so it couldn’t have been that boring.” She replied, looking up at Ricky.

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah. I’d be more excited if I saw a wax figure of a dinosaur. My life would just be complete.”

Gina hummed in response as they approached their group once they were inside the museum. 

“Hey lovebirds.” Carlos greeted them happily, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Carlos.” Ricky and Gina both said in unison. 

Ricky glanced over at Elias and Nini, who were also entangled in themselves, and said, “Hey.”

“Hey, Ricky.” Elias replied, pressing his lips into a thin line. For a few seconds, though it was subtle, he could see that Elias had pulled Nini a bit closer into him as if he was trying to prove a point. 

Ricky looked down at Nini, who almost looked uncomfortable, and then back to Elias, tilting his head. What was that? 

It was the first sign of Elias ever being threatened by Ricky. For some reason it made him involuntarily pull Gina in closer to him, his eyes staying on Elias for a moment too long.

Elias’ blue eyes stared back at him and he raised his brows slightly. Ricky was about to say something when he felt something pinch his side– hard.

He winced, grabbing his side and then looked towards Gina who smiled up at him. Her eyes said “what the hell are you doing?” but then she laughed, turning to the rest of the group, “So, you guys ready to get started?”

“I’m ready!” Nini said quickly, tugging on Elias’ hand in the direction of the exhibits. 

Once the couple was ahead of them, Gina turned to him, and whispered, “What the hell was that, dumbass?”

“What was what?” 

She glared at him, “I don’t know what it was, but there was some kind of weird masculinity dominance test going on there and it was completely unnecessary!”

“He started it!” He whisper-yelled back.

“Well, don’t do it again. It definitely made Nini super uncomfortable.” 

“You didn’t have to pinch me that hard, by the way.” Ricky whined, rubbing his side. “I’m gonna get a bruise.”

“Good.” Gina replied happily as they followed Carlos, Nini and Elias into the musical artists exhibit. 

The exhibit room was full of different musical artists ranging from Britney Spears to Michael Jackson. Throughout the room, they saw a lot of their classmates were taking pictures with the wax figures, including Big Red and Ashlyn. 

The pair went over to their friends, who were taking a picture with the Beyoncé wax figure. “Hey!” Ricky said as they approached their friends.

“Oh hey!” Big Red smiled.

“Care for some company?” Gina smiled. 

“Please. EJ and Kourtney are already being super annoying. I seriously don’t know why they haven’t gotten together yet.” Ashlyn sighed, looking over at EJ and Kourtney who were taking a selfie with the wax figure of Ed Sheeran.

“I love EJ, but he can be so dense sometimes. She clearly likes him…” Gina laughed, looking from EJ and Kourtney and then up to Ricky for a moment. 

He raised his eyebrows watching her look away from him quickly, seeing the crease in her forehead form as she focused back in on Ashlyn. He shook it off as Ashlyn continued talking.

“I agree. At this rate, I just hope that he fulfills his five step plan in time.” 

“He has a five step plan?” Ricky widened his eyebrows, looking down at Gina.

She nodded her head, “Yeah. I think he’s only on step two right now. At least that’s what he said last night.”

“Man, maybe I should’ve come prepared with a five step plan to get Nini back.”

“Nah, you’d still be on step one if you did.” Big Red smiled at his best friend.

“Thanks Red, I appreciate it.” 

The four teenagers walked through the exhibit and stopped at each one of the musical figures. After they decided to visit the Star Wars wax figure exhibit next (which both Ricky and Red almost lost it when they found out about it). 

Upon entering the Star Wars display room, Ricky and Big Red ran to the Darth Vader wax figure first. “Dude, this is insane!” Ricky exclaimed, looking closely at the wax figure.

“It seriously looks like him. Get next to it! Wait – actually let’s get a selfie. I gotta send this to my dad. We both can say we’ve met Vader.” Big Red said excitedly, opening his phone and the two boys posed next to the wax figure.

“Imagine if it just came to life.” Gina said as she walked over with Ashlyn.

“That’d be dope.” Ricky said to her. “Oh shit! Red! Look it’s Leia and Jabba! It’s from Jabba’s Throne Room. Come on let’s go!” He patted his best friend on the back, sending a small smile towards Gina before he and his best friend ran to the wax figure.

The two girls followed them over to the super realistic wax figures. Ashlyn took a picture of both of them: Ricky was posing next to Jabba the Hut with a goofy smile, while Big Red stood next to Leia and pointed up at her.

“Maybe I can die happily.” Big Red hummed, looking up at the wax figures warmly.

“You guys are such nerds. First dinosaurs and now Star Wars?” Gina shook her head at them.

“Oh God, Gina-rina, do I have to add Star Wars to our triple-feature movie night when we get home?” Ricky crossed his arms, raising his brows.

“If I say that I’ve seen them, can we scrap watching the Night at the Museums? That way I won’t have to watch any movie with you?” 

“Okay so you haven’t seen Star Wars.” He ignored her snide remarks. “Adding it to the list.”

He looked over to his best friend, who stared at him and Gina for a moment. Ricky ignored him, “Come on, Red, we’ve gotta find Chewy… he’s gotta be around here somewhere.”

After finding the Chewbacca, Han Solo, and stormtrooper wax figures, the two boys had found Ashlyn and Gina in front of the Yoda wax figure. 

“Personally I think they should add a Baby Yoda wax figure. It’d be even better than this.” Ashlyn commented as she stared at the small wax figure in front of them.

“No way!” Big Red defended. “First of all, Yoda is the OG… there’s no one better than Yoda. And second of all, his name is Grogu, Ashlyn.”

Ricky laughed at his best friend, shaking his head as he continued to go on about how Yoda is so much better than Grogu and why Grogu just isn’t worthy of getting its own wax figure. As he listened intently to Red's reasoning, his eyes wandered over to Gina, who was laughing at what the redhead was spewing on about.

The exhibit was poorly lit to fit the theme of Star Wars and the only light was coming from the wax figures. As he looked at her, he felt something unfamiliar in his stomach. He couldn’t figure out what it was, if it was the lighting, his lack of sleep or just the way she looked while she was laughing… she looked really pretty. 

“…not that Grogu doesn’t deserve his own wax figure, because he does but–”

“Alright, alright, Red. I think they got it.” Ricky said quickly as an attempt to shove that very strange thought and feeling out of his system. It felt weird. 

“Fine. But ask me again in five years and I’ll tell you what I think about Grogu getting his own wax figure.” 

“Shouldn’t he and Mando get a wax figure together?” Ricky replied, still trying to avoid that thought that keeps creeping back in.

“That’s a whole different story, dude.” Big Red said as they all started to walk away from the Yoda wax figure. They all continued to look at all of the other Star Wars wax figures until they were finished. 

Both Gina and Ashlyn thought that they were finished with Ricky and Big Red being nerds, until they were met with the Marvel wax figure exhibit. 

Though this time, Ricky didn’t seem to be as into it as his best friend. He just felt really strange about his new revelation about Gina. Yes, he knew that she was pretty. Of course he knew that; he’d be dumb not to see it. But he never ever got that feeling while looking at her and he never stopped to really look at her until now.

The teenage boy quite literally had to push that feeling down because he didn’t know if he wanted to feel it again. It almost felt wrong. 

Halfway through taking pictures next to Spider-Man, he saw Nini and Elias across the room. They were posing together next to Captain America as Kourtney snapped photos of them. They both were making silly faces and Ricky frowned at the sight.

And then he felt the familiar wave jealousy wash over him as he watched the two together. They looked like they were having fun and were laughing together, causing Ricky to miss being around Nini. Seeing them like this was pretty much enough for Ricky to forget about his thoughts of Gina. 

“You know,” Gina’s voice rang through his ears, “it’s probably not as fun as it looks.”

He looked down at her and then back at the laughing couple, “I guess.”

She nudged him, “Come on, Bowen, let’s make it look like we’re having an even better time.”

He looked down at her and suddenly he didn’t feel as strange around her. It wasn’t weird anymore; it was just the same Gina that it’s always been. Maybe he was just freaking out over nothing. He nodded his head, the corners of his lips turning up, gesturing towards the Iron Man figure, “After you, babe.”

She rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the wax figure of the well known superhero. Then she stopped, looking down at Ricky’s hand and intertwining her fingers in his. Ricky looked down at their hands for a moment and then shook it off, walking towards the wax figure with Gina. 

Once they were met with the strangely-realistic looking Iron Man, they decided to get a picture with it. Since there wasn't anyone really around them, Ricky took out his phone and they took a selfie with it. One smiling and one with a funny face. 

“That’s your idea of a funny face?” Gina looked over at Ricky, who had just set his phone down. 

“I thought my face was pretty funny!” Ricky frowned, looking down at the picture.

“You’re right. Your face is always funny.”

“You’re just jealous because your face isn’t as cute as mine.” He mused, a small smile playing on his lips.

“You’re right. You have the most beautiful face on Earth. They should turn you into a wax figure.” Gina replied, looking up and down at the Iron Man statue in front of them. 

“It’s true. Maybe I can send them one of my headshots.” 

Gina finally looked over at him, rolling her eyes, “Come on, let’s go take a picture with that huge green guy.”

Ricky’s jaw fell open and he looked over quickly to the Hulk wax figure, “You can’t be serious! How do you not know Hulk? Hulk-smash? Ring a bell?”

Gina tilted her head and blinked, “Nope. Really doesn’t ring a bell.”

“You’re kidding. You know who Iron Man is but you don’t know who the Hulk is? Bruce Banner? The Incredible Hulk? Portrayed by Mark Ruffalo? Porter, have you been living under a rock all your life and just haven’t been exposed to the amazing and beautiful wonders of modern day pop culture?”

She stared at him for a moment until she cracked a smile, “You’re too easy, Bowen. I know Hulk. I just wanted to see your reaction.”

Ricky frowned and glared back at her, “You’re evil. You know that?”

“It was all worth it. You should’ve seen your face.” Gina laughed. 

He shook his head, grabbing Gina’s hand again, “Let’s go meet a waxy Captain America. You sure you know who he is?”

“Peter Parker? Isn’t that his name?” Gina asked and smirked at him. Ricky glared back at her, attempting to come off as unamused. 

They made their way towards the last wax figure and met back up with Ashlyn and Big Red as they were taking pictures of the statue. “Hey friends.” Gina said as they approached them.

“Hey!” They both said in unison.

After a few minutes of small talk, the group took a picture with Captain America. By the time they were done, it was time to report back to the chaperones so that they could head to their two final stops in London before they left for the airport.

A half hour passed and everyone was back on the buses. As they left Madame Tussauds and headed towards Buckingham Palace, Ricky decided to check his phone. When he opened it, he saw that Gina had tagged him in a post.

He looked over at her, “You tagged me in a post?”

She glanced up from the window and nodded, “Yeah. I gotta do my part as your fake-girlfriend. It requires posting about you.”

“Oh. Yeah, right.” He replied and opened the post which was posted on Gina’s Instagram story. It was a picture of him posing with Han Solo, a huge smile plastered across his face, and she had captioned it: Nerd <3. 

Ricky laughed lightly, a small smile spreading on his lips. He looked over at Gina who was smiling down at her phone. It looked like she was texting someone and curiosity spiked in his chest, wondering who she could be texting.

“Who are you texting?” He asked curiously. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked that. 

Gina looked up at him, her brows raised, “My mom.”

His lips formed into an ‘o’ shape and then went back to what he was doing. Though it was a short bus ride, it seemed to take forever. Ricky’s mind was wandering to everything Gina. He didn’t ever think of it before, but where was her mom if Gina was staying with the Caswells? Did she know the Caswells prior to moving to Salt Lake? 

And that’s when he realized that he really didn’t know much about her. He knew that she was a year younger, that she lived with the Caswells, and that she could be undeniably annoying but other than that… he really didn’t know her. And for some unknown reason, he wanted to know all about her.

“You’re deep in thought.” Gina’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

He looked over at her and laughed, “Yeah. Just thinking.”

Her eyes lingered on him for a moment as if she were trying to take a look at what he was thinking about. Ricky, who was secretly hoping she couldn’t read his mind, was looking right back at her. Then the bus stopped and she moved her eyes away from him. 

He frowned slightly and then realized that they had arrived at their next stop. After everyone piled out of the bus, the chaperones told them to visit the palace, grab something to eat, then meet back in precisely an hour.

Ricky and Gina were greeted by Nini and Elias within a few minutes and then Carlos had arrived. 

Ricky could feel the animosity coming off Elias again, which felt completely uncomfortable, and he couldn’t figure out why. They’d been fine every day before this. The two of them really didn’t have any bad blood besides their mutual connection to Nini.

He averted his eyes from the blonde and looked towards Gina, “So want to visit the palace first and then get some food?”

“Sounds good to me.” Gina replied, looking over to the rest of their group members, “You guys good with that?”

“Actually…” Nini said, looking up at Elias, “we were gonna go get some food now and then see the palace. If that’s cool.”

Ricky looked at her quizzically but she evidently avoided his gaze. 

“But we have to stay together. As a group.” Carlos reminded them, his brows raised.

Elias shrugged, “They don’t have to know. We’ll be fine.”

“Uh, yeah, you two go do that.” Ricky said, his eyes meeting Elias’. The couple nodded and then went off in the other direction.

Carlos turned to Ricky and Gina, “That was weird. Elias is acting super strange.”

“I know.” Gina replied. “It’s kind of off-putting considering he’s usually super laidback.”

“A bit of a douche if you asked me.” Ricky hummed, watching Nini and Elias get smaller as they walked farther away.

She nudged him, “He’s usually not a douche. And it’s definitely about you. Maybe it’s a good thing?”

He had almost forgotten that Gina had a crush on the annoyingly-perfect blonde tree that was Nini’s boyfriend. He sighed, “I guess. I just wonder what happened.”

“Who cares!” Carlos chimed in, crossing his arms. “Let’s go, I want to see where the Royal family lives.”

And so they walked up to the gates of the palace and admired the beautiful architecture of the building. Along with their other classmates, they all decided to take pictures together in front of the building.

After 15 minutes of hanging out in front of the palace, the three teenagers decided to get something to eat with only 45 minutes remaining until they had to leave to visit Hyde Park.

As they walked through the streets of London, they found a restaurant that they all decided was to their liking. Once they sat down, Ricky couldn’t help but yawn. 

He slept for a bit longer last night than he did the night before, but even then Big Red’s CPAP machine was still waking him up a few times during the night.

His eyes met Gina, who was raising her brows, “You barely got any sleep again, huh?”

He sat back in his chair, “More sleep than the night before but I guess it wasn’t enough.”

“Maybe you can sleep on the flight?” Gina suggested.

He nodded his head, “Yeah, probably. Oh, by the way, are we sitting together on the flight?”

“I mean, do you want to?”

“Well, I just didn’t know if you wanted to sit with Ashlyn this time.”

“I could if you want to sit with Red.”

Ricky frowned slightly, “It really doesn’t matter to me.”

Gina bit down on her lip and paused, “It doesn’t matter to me either.”

“You two are unbelievable. Just sit with each other, it’s more convincing.” Carlos said, looking up from the menu.

“Are you always so grumpy?” Gina asked, turning to him.

“Only when I’m being held against my will to hang out with the two of you. At least you’re not actually a couple—that would be way worse.” 

After thirty minutes go by and the teenagers are finished with their food, they all make their way back to the buses and gather with the rest of their classmates as the chaperones begin to announce roll call. It doesn’t take long before everyone is loaded back on the bus and they are headed for their final destination in London.

It was a short five minute drive to Hyde Park and once they arrived, the teenagers all dispersed and went their separate ways. Instead of meeting with their group, Ricky and Gina had yet again met up with Ashlyn and Big Red to spend their final hour in London together.

Luckily, the park is large enough that not many of their classmates were in sight so Ricky and Gina didn’t have to act like a fake couple. 

They walked through as much of the park as they could in just the hour they had left. They took pictures with statues that really didn’t have any meaning to them, they took pictures of the park’s beautiful landscaping and some of the lake that was in the middle of the park.

With twenty minutes left until they had to get back to the rest of their classmates, the group of four decided to sit down on the grass close to The Rose Garden. Ricky laid down in the grass next to Big Red, who sighed happily, “So what do we rate London out of ten?”

“I’d say an 8. It didn’t rain once!” Ashlyn replied as she looked around at her surroundings.

“I’ll give it a 7.5.” Ricky said, turning his head to look at Red.

“A 7.5?” He heard Gina question.

He glanced over at her, “It would’ve been a solid 8 but we almost died yesterday on the London Eye so–”

“We didn’t almost die, Bowen. You’re unbelievable.” She laughed lightly, looking down at her hands in her lap. He watched as she started to play with the charms on her bracelet and then he swallowed, looking away from her and back up at the sky. 

“Well I’d give it a 9.” Big Red said to his friends.

“Why not a ten?” Ricky asked.

“Because I didn’t meet any of the members of One Direction.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at his best friend, “Oh, Red.”

Their conversation went on for the next ten minutes until they all had to get back to the buses. They grabbed their belongings and headed for the rest of their travel group. 

Once they arrived and the chaperones did their usual attendance call, everyone loaded onto the buses and were headed for the airport. 

The bus ride to the airport was about twenty minutes long and once they were there, getting everyone through airport security and customs took up about an hour of their day. 

For the half hour that they had free before they boarded their flight, Ricky and Gina roamed the airport and made their way through a few gift shops before they had to return to their gate. 

Finally, it was time for their flight to board. Gina had already texted Ashlyn about sitting with Ricky so it wasn’t a problem getting situated once they boarded their flight. Unfortunately, the pair of teenagers were not seated in a window seat rather they were sat in the middle section of the plane.

Ricky didn’t complain since it was only a two hour flight to Berlin. 

Before take off, Gina turned to him, “Too bad there’s not anything you can hit your head on.”

He rolled his eyes, “I might actually leave this trip with my whole body bruised. First I hit my head, you punched me yesterday, and then pinched me earlier.”

“All of which have brought me immense joy.”

Their banter continued for the next few minutes until their plane took off. After sitting in comfortable silence for a while, both of the teenagers put their headphones in and started to do their own thing as they left the city of London and headed for Germany.

━━━━━━

Somewhere along the way during the flight, Ricky had drifted into sleep and this time he woke up to his head resting on Gina’s shoulder. He froze upon the realization of how close in proximity he was to her and the fact that she was clearly awake—and hadn’t shoved him off of her.

He lifted his head from her shoulder and she glanced over at him. His lips parted, “I-I’m sorry… I, uh, um, didn’t realize that I was on your shoulder and–” he stopped when he saw a small smirk on her lips. 

“It’s fine. You weren’t like that for long at all.”

He swallowed and nodded his head, “Okay. Sorry again.”

“You know, you should really try getting some sleep at night.” Gina commented as she turned her phone off, setting it down in her lap. 

“Me? Getting sleep at night? I could never.” Ricky said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. “What time is it? Are we almost there?”

“Yeah, I think there’s like fifteen minutes left until we land.” 

“Alright, cool.”

By the time their flight landed it was about 6:45pm, since Berlin was an hour ahead of London. After everyone got off the plane and retrieved their belongings, the chaperones did their usual routines and then everyone headed for the exit of the airport.

Before everyone they arrived at the hotel, the group stopped to get something for dinner before they settled into their hotel for the rest of the night. 

They ended up dining at a local restaurant close to their hotel that could seat all 40 students and teachers. Ricky sat with Big Red, Gina, and Ashlyn as usual and they mostly discussed their plans for tomorrow. 

For most of the dinner, Big Red spent most of the time talking about how he already loved Germany and wants to live there. Plus, after the majority of their classmates had found out that the legal drinking age is only 16, they all suddenly fell in love with Germany too.

After dinner it was then 8:30 and time to head to their hotel for the rest of the night. Once they all arrived at the hotel and the chaperones checked in, each pair of roommates had gotten their room keys. 

“East High students—settle down, settle down,” Mr. Mazzara announced before everyone went up to their rooms, “Alright, now just because you all have gotten ahold of the newfound information that you all are able to drink alcohol here, I want you to take that information delicately and do with that what you will… be responsible.”

“And,” Miss Jenn spoke quickly, “No matter what, do not leave the hotel. That’s all from us! Have a good night!”

As the group of chaperones started to leave the lobby and same with the students, Ricky turned to Gina and Ashlyn, “Well, I guess we’ll see you two tomorrow?”

“Yeah…” Gina trailed, looking up at Ricky with a small smile, “see you tomorrow.”

He smiled back at her, then turned to Ashlyn, who was already looking at him, “Night, Ricky. Night, Red.”

“Night, Ashlyn.” The two boys said in unison.

“Bye, Gina!” Big Red said as the two girls started to walk towards the elevators. Gina bid her goodbye to him and then they were off.

The curly haired boy turned to Red, “What’s our room number?”

“Uh,” the boy started as he took out the room key envelope, “208.”

“208.” Ricky repeated, nodding his head slowly. He grabbed his suitcase and the two boys headed towards the elevator.

Big Red pressed the button to the elevator and they waited. The elevator was almost to the ground level when Ricky realized that he left his bag on the couch in the lobby, “Oh, shit dude, I left my backpack in the lobby.”

The elevator doors opened with a ding!

“Do you want me to wait for you?” Big Red asked, his hand flying in front of the doors so it wouldn’t close.

Ricky shook his head, “Nah, you go ahead I’ll meet you up there.”

The redhead nodded, grabbed his bag and entered the elevator as Ricky headed for the lobby. Once he was in the lobby, he spotted his backpack on the red couch near the front door. 

He went over and grabbed it, then started heading back to the elevators. As he approached the elevators, he was met with a familiar face. 

“Nini,” he breathed out, instantly becoming nervous. They were the only ones waiting for the elevator. 

She turned to him, her eyes wide, “Ricky… hey.”

He swallowed and suddenly his heart started to race. Seeing her with Gina around really wasn’t all that bad, but they hadn’t been alone together since their breakup. The air felt undeniably uncomfortable and full of tension already.

“Uh,” he started, not really knowing what to say, and then lifted his backpack up, “I left my backpack in the lobby.”

She looked at his backpack and then to him, nodding, “Oh. Nice.”

Uneasy silence took over between the pair of exes as they waited for the elevator. Ricky had dreamed of a moment like this, being alone with Nini, where he wanted nothing more than to ask her why she broke up with him and moved on the next day. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask her.

Nini glanced over at him, “Um, so, where’s Gina?”

“She went to her room with Ashlyn.”

Her lips parted, “Oh. Right.”

The elevator doors finally opened and they stepped inside at the same moment. After the doors closed and they both pressed their floors, Ricky turned to her, “So… is everything alright with Elias? He was acting a bit strange earlier.”

She rubbed her arm uncomfortably, and swallowed, “Um. He’s just having an off day. It’s really nothing.”

He knew her enough to tell that wasn’t even close to the truth, but decided not to pry even more. Everything felt weird and tense between them—he didn’t want to make it any worse.

After a few more moments passed, the elevator finally reached the second floor. Ricky cleared his throat and turned to her, “Well, night… Nini.”

The doors opened and Ricky stepped out. He turned back to her, his heart desperately wanting for her to say something . 

“Bye.” She replied and then the doors closed.

He exhaled audibly and stood there for a few moments, frowning. He shook his head and then headed for his room. Once he made it to his room and opened the door, he greeted Big Red.

Big Red was already laying on his bed with his phone glued to his face, “Dude, I ate so much at dinner. German food is amazing.”

Ricky forced out a small laugh and set his suitcase and backpack down next to his bed, “It was pretty good.”

The redhead sat up, “You good?”

Ricky stared at the wall for a moment, feeling like the world was weighing on him and then nodded, “Yeah. Just tired.”

“It has been a long day.” His best friend agreed whilst letting out a loud yawn.

Ricky unzipped his suitcase and grabbed a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and his toiletries, turning to his best friend, “I’m gonna take a shower.”

Red nodded his head and gave Ricky a thumbs up. With that, he headed into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror for at least three minutes. He felt drained.

Sighing, he turned on the shower, undressed and got in the shower. His shower must have lasted a half hour as he just stood under the water with his thoughts running a mile a minute through his head. They were all about Nini.

After he mustered up the energy to finally turn off the shower, he dried off, got dressed and brushed his teeth. 

Once he got out of the bathroom, he saw his best friend already passed out asleep on his bed. Ricky made his way over to his phone, which was set on the nightstand, and checked the time. It was only 10:14.

He sighed, grabbing the device off of the table and then fell back into his bed. He opened his phone and decided to go on Instagram to pass some time.

He checked up on his feed. Half of it was pictures of his favorite celebrities and skaters, and the other half was pictures of his classmates on the trip. Big Red had even posted a picture of him and Ashlyn on the London Eye. 

After a few minutes of scrolling, he ended up stumbling upon Nini’s newest post. It was only posted a half hour ago. There were a few pictures of her and Elias hugging and some were of Nini kissing his cheek with the caption: No one else I would want to spend my trip to Europe with ❤️ @elias_scott love you!

Ricky felt a pang of both jealousy and hurt wash over him all at once. She only posted it a half hour ago, which meant it was after their interaction in the elevator. He couldn’t help but feel like that caption was directed at him somehow. He vividly remembered all the times that Nini had told him how ecstatic she was to go with him on this trip and how it was going to be the best time of their lives. 

It felt like the last three years of their relationship that they spent building was torn down just by a single Instagram post. 

So he laid there for the next ten minutes, his mind once again clouded by the thought of his ex-girlfriend. He wondered where it went wrong again and again, wondering if she missed him too, and if it actually bothered her that he was with Gina. 

And if she wasn’t… what was this all for?

He suddenly had the urge to get out of his hotel room. It now felt cramped and uncomfortable, causing Ricky to spiral even further into his ‘I-want-my-ex-back’ freak out. 

But where would he go? Down to the lobby? On a walk alone in a foreign city alone?

And then an idea crossed his mind, but then he pushed it away. He set his phone down and stared up at the ceiling. 

A small sigh escaped past his lips as he kept coming back to his idea. But Gina was probably already in bed… right?

After a few moments of toying with the idea of asking her to hang out, he groaned and grabbed his phone. He quickly went to his text messages and clicked on her contact. Without thinking further, he started typing:

You up?

He waited.

Yes. I’m not a grandma!

Ricky laughed lightly at her response.

Want to go for a walk? Need to clear my head

Ricky swallowed nervously as he pressed the send button. He couldn’t explain why he wanted to go with Gina on a walk. Big Red was already in his dream world and she was pretty much the only other person who he had.

He nervously tapped his phone, waiting for Gina to respond. He felt himself growing more anxious—what if she didn’t want to hang out with him because she doesn’t have to? She could easily say no or that she’s tired. What if she thinks he’s annoying or laughs at him for wanting to go on a walk with her?

He sighed again. She still hadn’t responded and all of these worst case scenarios continued to run through his head. He didn’t know why he was nervous but he was.

And he became even more nervous when he saw the bubble that indicated she was typing. Her typing seemed to take forever which only caused him more stress and anxiety—but that all went away once he got her response.

Meet downstairs in 5?

Ricky practically jumped out of bed, grabbing his beat up blue vans and his room key. He glanced over at Big Red, who was still passed out asleep. After a minute of waiting to leave, he headed down to the lobby. 

He reached the lobby and his eyes immediately rested on her. She was leaning against the couch, wearing a blue zip-up hoodie and a pair of leggings, which made Ricky smile slightly.

Their eyes met and Gina smiled slightly, “I didn’t know you were such a rule breaker, Bowen. Sneaking out after curfew? Tsk tsk.” 

“Didn’t know you like to hang out with rule breakers.” He responded, an amused smirk playing on his lips.

The two of them exited the building, and were met with a warm breeze. They decided on turning right down the street.

“So was Red not enough company for you?” Gina inquired, raising her brows up at the boy when they were a ways away from their hotel.

“Red fell asleep. He must’ve been exhausted from all the food he ate today… he’s insane.”

Gina laughed lightly in response. A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they walked down the sidewalk. The two of them had decided to walk towards the Brandenburg Gate, which was only a short walk from their hotel. 

The streets were almost empty for it being a Wednesday night, which was strange since Salt Lake was usually pretty busy compared to this. It was nice and calming for a walk.

“So… what was the reason you wanted to get out?” Gina asked softly.

He cleared his throat, not really wanting to tell Gina about his run-in with his ex, “Uh, Nini… actually. I saw her Instagram post and it just really hit home, I guess.”

“Ah.” Gina said. “I saw that.”

“I don’t know… it’s just that we always had talked about being on this trip together and it’s just all turned around.”

After a few moments of silence, Gina looked up, “If you don’t mind me asking… Why did the two of you break up? I mean the whole school thought the two of you were meant to be.”

Ricky sighed heavily, “Honestly? I thought we were too… it all happened so fast. One day we were completely fine and the next Nini was crying on my bed telling me that she didn’t want to do long distance for college.”

“That sucks. You don’t deserve that, you know?”

He shrugged, “I just wish she’d give me some sort of explanation. It couldn’t really have been about the long distance if she got into another relationship so quick… It’s really tiring going over every crack and hole of our relationship and not getting any closure.” 

“Have you ever asked her?”

He shook his head, “No.”

“Maybe you should.”

“I’ve tried… trust me. I just can never find the right words.” 

Gina looked up at him as they walked, “They’ll come at the right time.”

He glanced back at her and suddenly, he almost felt more at ease hearing those words coming from Gina. He gave her a small smile and she looked away. 

Silence fell over them again and they listened to the sounds of the new and unfamiliar city that they were in. Ricky’s thoughts wandered to the girl next to him and just how much he didn’t know about her. 

“So, I–uh realized earlier that I really don’t know anything about you.” Ricky said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “You know, besides how annoying you are.”

Gina looked up at him and scrunched her nose, “Good one. Um, what do you want to know?”

He looked back down at her, “I don’t know… your life, your family, where you’re going to college… the basics.”

Gina paused, looking down at the concrete sidewalk they walked on and then back up at Ricky, “I’ll have you know I’m a very interesting person, Bowen.” She laughed. “You know, I live with both my parents in a huge mansion with everything I could possibly want, I go to East High where life is just spectacular and now I’m here with you in Europe. Pretending to be your girlfriend.”

Ricky rolled his eyes, clearly not giving into whatever front she was putting up, “Come on, Porter. Tell me about you. The real you.”

He watched her closely and noticed how her playful smirk had turned into an unsure smile. He nudged her, “I’ll even tell you anything you want to know about my fabulous life.”

She let out a breathy laugh, looking up at him, “Okay.” She said simply. 

He nodded his head in triumph and turned his head away from her to the city in front of them. 

“It’s just me and my mom.” Gina said after a minute of silence. “My dads not… in the picture and I don’t have any siblings.”

Ricky nodded his head, “I’m an only child too. It gets kind of lonely sometimes.”

“Tell me about it.” She agreed as she played with the hem of her hoodie. “That’s why I love living with Ashlyn. I got so close with both her and EJ… they’re kind of like my found family. I know it sounds dumb but–”

Ricky shook his head, “It’s not dumb.”

Gina looked up at him with a small smile ghosting her lips. 

“So… why don't you live with your mom?” Ricky asked curiously.

She swallowed, “Well, she currently lives in New York. She works for FEMA, so we have to move basically whenever a disaster strikes. Before I got to East High, we lived in five different places in seven years…”

“Wow… Is it hard? Constantly moving and not staying in one place?”

“Yeah. But throughout the years I’ve learned never to get too close to anything or anyone because it could get taken away from me at any given moment.” Gina responded. “You get used to it after a while.”

Ricky nodded slowly as he processed the information, “So if your moms in New York, how come you’re still in Salt Lake?”

“My mom moved to New York just before Christmas last year and I was supposed to go with her. Before I was leaving, Ashlyn had offered for me to stay in her guest room for the remaining year… my mom and I had eventually decided that it would be good for me to stay in one place, make some real friends and finish high school.”

“It was hard being away from my mom at first. I was still fifteen and staying with a family that I barely knew. It was scary and a bit tough, but that’s how I got close with EJ and Ashlyn… I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Ricky could tell how much Gina loved and appreciated both her mom and the Caswells just by the way she talked about them. She even got a glint in her eyes. 

“But this past school year, I realized it really was hard to be away from my mom. She’s been the only real constant in my life and truthfully, when I decided to live with the Caswells, I wasn’t ready to be on my own. And then, I ended up finding that I was eligible enough to graduate a year early, with all of my extra credits from my other schools and with my APs so…”

“You’re going to live with your mom in New York.”

“That’s the plan.”

“You think you’ll ever come back to Salt Lake?” Ricky asked almost immediately, feeling a bit eager and curious to know the answer. 

Gina shrugged, “I mean, maybe eventually. I don’t really have any other reason to come back other than to see the Caswells and they already have arranged when they would fly out to New York to see me basically whenever they can.”

Ricky felt himself frown slightly at the thought that he might never see Gina again. Even though they’ve only known each other four days in the strangest of circumstances, Ricky thought of Gina as a friend.

“Right… that makes sense.”

Silence fell over them as they continued to walk down the streets of Berlin. 

Ricky cleared his throat, “So, uh, when do you leave? Are you staying the summer or leaving after graduation?”

“Why, Bowen, do you want to spend more time with me?” Gina cracked a smile, looking up at him with raised eyebrows.

Ricky feigned disgust, “Ew, why would I want to spend more time with you?” Gina laughed and he shook his head. “Nah, I’m just curious.”

“I’m staying a few weeks after graduation. Ash and EJ practically begged me to stay a little longer so they could spend more time with me.”

“Ah,” Ricky nodded his head.

Gina bit down on her lip and looked up at him, “So, what about you, Bowen… what’s your life like? I’ve already heard about your life in the romance department, but what about your family, what's your life after graduation—I wanna hear all about it.”

Ricky let out a deep breath and a small laugh escaped his lips, “I’ll save you all the gory details, but my parents just got divorced a few months ago. It was tough, I’m not going to lie… it’s like, when I was younger I used to think my parents were the epitome of true love. They met when they were kids, actually, and my dad swore they were meant to be,” he laughed at the memory, “and he did anything he possibly could to win my mom over through the years. And then, they finally got together in high school.”

He looked down at Gina for a moment, who was intently listening to his story, making him feel more at ease, so he continued, “It was like your classic high school sweetheart story—get married in college, have a kid young and then eventually they realized it wasn’t…”

“Meant to be?” Gina looked up and tilted her head.

He swallowed, “Yeah.” 

Gina looked away and Ricky sighed, “I don’t know… I think I was avoiding the fact that they were barely talking to each other the last few years and that my mom was constantly in Chicago on business - which evidently wasn’t about business at all. I guess I’m okay with it now… it just sucked—it still sucks.”

“So does your mom live in Chicago now?” Gina asked gently.

“Yeah. She has a new boyfriend.” 

“I’m sorry, Ricky.” 

Ricky looked down at Gina, a bit surprised with her use of his name. They rarely called each other by their real names. After a few moments, he shrugged, “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

The two of them let silence fall between them for the next few minutes, as they took in Berlin at night. It was peaceful, especially having Gina as company, Ricky felt like his head was already cleared and Nini was the least thing on his mind.

“Um…” Gina began, “what about college? Where are you going?”

“Just going to U of U. I really don’t know what I want to do with my life to be completely honest. Just gonna go with the flow and see where it takes me.”

“I get that. It’s completely fine that you have no idea what you’re going to do, you know. None of us do.”

Ricky raised his eyebrows, a knowing smile playing on his lip, “and what are you going for?”

She rolled her eyes, mirroring the same knowing smile back, “Dance.”

“Ah, yes , she does dance.” Ricky chuckled. “So I’ve heard.”

“Yes she does.” Gina replied and looked up at Ricky. “It’s my thing.”

After a few moments, Ricky hummed, “Want to know a secret?”

“A secret? You collect your toenails in a peanut butter jar?” The curly haired girl mused.

“What? No!” He sputtered, laughing. “No… I was going to say that I have a thing. Not many people know of it, though.”

“Ricky Bowen has a thing besides skating and getting high on weekdays?” Gina put her hand on her mouth, pretending to be surprised. Ricky sent her a playful unamused glare in response. She continued, “Go on… what is it?”

“Uh, I don’t know, it’s kinda stupid–” he began to feel his cheeks beat up.

“Just tell me!” Gina nudged his side.

He bit down on his lip, “Uh, I, um sing a little.”

“Really?” She asked, slightly surprised.

“Yeah.” He felt himself become a bit nervous having Gina know this information about him. 

“Well now you have to sing for me, Bowen. It’s only fair.” 

Ricky’s lips parted, “No way! Not here.” 

Gina looked around them, “There’s no one around! It’s just me… come on, you can’t just drop that on me and expect me to not want you to sing!”

Now he was nervous. He really didn’t want to sing in front of Gina, not now at least. He shook his head, “Not happening, Porter. Give me a few days and then we’ll talk about it.”

She scoffed, “A few days? Now that’s just cruel.”

“It is what it is.”

She frowned, “I just want to know if you’re any good so I can make fun of you if you aren’t.”

“And if I am? Any good?” 

“I doubt it.” She poked fun at him. “But we’ll see what happens.” 

Ricky shook his head lightly, a small smile creeping on his face. He liked the way that their conversation flowed and how comfortable that Gina made him feel. It was nice.

“So,” she began, “if you like to sing, how come you never tried out for the musicals?”

“Are you kidding? Musicals are literally the worst thing ever to come into existence - no offense. It’s incredibly unrealistic how they just break into song every ten minutes… it just doesn’t make any sense! Plus, that’s Nini’s thing… I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that.”

“You’re lucky that high school is almost over, Bowen. If I knew you a year ago knowing what I know, I probably would’ve made you audition. You’d probably end up liking it a lot more than you think, you know.” Gina replied. “And so what if it’s Nini’s thing? It could be your thing too—it’s okay to like the same things. If Nini really loves you, she’d love that you wanted to try something new and support you every step of the way.”

He looked over at her and half-smiled, “Maybe in another life.”

“In another life you would’ve for sure played Troy in last year's production.” Gina nudged him.

He chuckled, “Yeah sure.”

“You would’ve been a lot better than Elias was, I’ll tell you that.” 

“Oh yeah? Are you saying Elias was a bad Troy?”

She laughed, “He wasn’t bad . But he just wasn’t the right fit is all.”

Ricky hummed in response and was about to ask her about her crush on him. Before he could say anything else, both of their eyes landed on the Brandenburg Gate which was now in sight. 

As they neared closer to the large structure, they couldn’t help but gape at its beauty. It stands tall with six columns holding up the top and is illuminated with bright lights. 

“Wow,” Gina whispered. “It’s so beautiful.”

Ricky tore his eyes away from the gate and glanced at Gina. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked under the artificial light of the gate in front of them. Her lips curved up in an amazed smile and her eyes lit up in wonder. 

“Yeah,” he said softly as he looked at her. And then he felt the same feeling that he felt just earlier and it brought him right back to reality. He averted his eyes to the gaze, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with where his thoughts were going once again. 

“Can you get a picture of me?” Gina turned to him.

He nodded quickly and cleared his throat, “Yeah, sure.”

She walked a few feet in front of Ricky, posing with her arms up in the air and a big grin on her face. He smiled to himself as he snapped a few pictures of her.

Gina waved him over, “Come on, let’s get one together.”

He walked up to her and held his phone out. He attempted to get as much of the gate in the picture as he could, but his arm only extended so far. They took a few smiling and a few silly ones just as they did earlier with the wax figures.

They stood in front of the gate for quite awhile, just admiring the architecture and basking in each other’s company. It was nice to actually be alone with Gina and not to have to pretend all the time. It was nice to be just them .

After a while, Gina looked down at her phone and sighed, “We probably should get back.”

Ricky rocked on his heels, a small frown forming on his lips, “Yeah… probably.”

Their walk back to their hotel was filled with their usual playful banter and more get-to-know-you questions. Ricky learned a lot about Gina in those twenty minutes of their walk back. Her favorite color was orange, not like a hard orange but the sunset orange, her all time favorite TV show had to be Full House, and she loves to bake and knit in her spare time. 

As they approached the entrance to their hotel, Ricky saw two of their chaperones conversing in the hotel lobby. “Uh,” he suddenly halted, his hand flying in front of Gina causing her to stop walking, “we have a problem.”

“What?”

“Miss Jenn and Mazzara are in the lobby. Why are they in the lobby? It’s almost 11:30!”

“Are you really freaking out over that? It’s not like they can really do anything about it…” Gina reasoned, looking through the glass doors of the hotel entrance at the two teachers standing at the front desk.

“Well, yeah, that’s true but how would we try explaining to them why we left the building in a completely foreign city in the middle of the night which could potentially be very dangerous.”

“We could just tell them that you were feeling sick so we had to get some fresh air.”

“Wait, why do I have to be the one who’s feeling sick?”

Gina glanced over to him, a small glare in her eyes, “It’s more believable.”

Ricky sighed, “Yeah. I guess you’re right. But–wait, we’re not supposed to be with each other after curfew so how are we going to explain that–”

“I think you should stop overthinking this. You get high on school property almost every day and you’re scared of Miss Jenn and Mazzara scolding you?” 

“Well, it’s actually pretty simple, I just know how to not get caught at school.”

A few moments passed and then Gina put her hand out in front of Ricky. He looked down at it and then back up at her, his brows raising, “What?”

“Let’s just not get caught.” 

He gazed down at her hand without any more thought, he grabbed it. And then she started walking towards the entrance and dragged Ricky along with her.

Before she opened the door, she turned back to him, “You need to be quiet.”

He rolled his eyes, “ you need to be quiet.”

She ignored him and then opened the door. Their teachers' backs were to them so they quickly ran towards the couch and ducked behind it, before anyone could see them.

Their hands were still tightly intertwined as they crouched behind the couch. Ricky eyed their next move; the elevators were just a few feet from them around the corner. 

“I think we should just go for it.” He whispered to Gina, who was staring at their chaperones.

“I think you need to be quiet.” Gina whispered back. “Okay, I think we can make it if we go quick.”

She looked back at him for validation and he gave her a quick “now or never” shrug. So they stood, quietly, and watched their teachers carefully. Their backs were still turned to them, so the pair of teenagers quickly ran towards the elevators.

Ricky smashed the elevator button eagerly with the fear of being caught. Their teachers were just around the corner and could turn it any second.

Gina’s grip on his hand got tighter as they heard Miss Jenn and Mazzara’s voice grow louder. Finally and just in time, the elevator door opened and the teenagers ran inside and pressed their floor numbers.

“Excuse me, can you hold the elevator?” They heard Mr. Mazzara’s voice call after them. 

They stayed silent as the doors began to close.

“Hey—” Miss Jenn began but the elevator door closed and started heading upstairs.

Ricky and Gina let out exhaled breathlessly. Gina put her hand over her mouth, “Oh my God, that was so close, do you think they saw us?”

“I mean probably, we weren’t exactly 007 out there.” Ricky laughed, trying to catch his breath.

He watched as she laughed along with him but then noticed that their hands were still clasped together. She dropped his hand, laughing lightly.

Ricky stuffed his hands into his pocket, trying to act as if the loss of contact didn’t bother him. The elevator door opened to Ricky’s floor and he turned to Gina, “I’ll walk you to your room.”

The doors closed.

“You know you don’t have to walk me to my room every night, Bowen.” 

“I know.” He shrugged. “I want to though.”

She smiled up at him and before she could say anything further, the elevator doors opened to reveal Gina’s floor. 

The two teenagers exited the elevator and walked side by side down the hallway. Gina stopped once they reached her door and Ricky followed her actions.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight… it was nice.” Ricky said, rocking on his feet. 

“It was.” Gina said softly after a few moments, nodding her head. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow, Porter.”

Chapter Text

Gina laid in bed a little longer than she usually did that morning, with the events of the night prior on her mind while she stared up at the ceiling of their hotel room. Before last night, she really didn’t know all that much about Ricky and she thought that it was always going to be like that. Sure they’re friends, but they’re friends because of a proposition. 

But then last night happened, and Gina never realized how much she and Ricky had in common, and just how much they actually got each other. It was a foreign feeling; getting close to another person in such a short amount of time. The only people in her life that she was truly herself with beside her mom were Ashlyn and EJ… but now Ricky could be added to that list. 

But Ricky was different from Ashlyn and EJ. She connected with Ricky like she had never connected with anyone before. It took her months to really open herself to her best friends fully and completely. With Ricky… it was easy to talk to him about her life and what makes her world go round. She didn’t know why she found it so easy to open up to him that quickly, especially after only four days of knowing him. 

Being with him felt comfortable, talking to him was easy, and they truly had fun together. There wasn’t an awkward phase or a small talk phase of their relationship; they were just thrown into this crazy mess of a friendship and it was almost like they’ve known each other their whole lives. It was easy.

He was growing on her, maybe more than she would like to admit, and it didn’t help her plans for after this trip. She was supposed to leave for New York and it was supposed to be easy to keep in touch with just the Caswells. But now, Ricky was someone she had to potentially leave behind too. 

As she was deep in thought, staring up at the ceiling, she was suddenly met with a pillow-to-the-face which ripped her away from her thoughts. She groaned, removing the pillow from her face, “What was that for?”

Ashlyn laughed, “We need to get ready.”

Gina rolled over and looked at the alarm clock: 8:47am. She sighed and began to climb out of bed.

“What were you daydreaming about?” The redhead inquired as she dried her wet hair from the shower. 

“How I have to spend another entire day kissing up to Ricky.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes, “You weren’t complaining when he asked to go on a walk last night.”

Gina shrugged, “Yeah but I didn’t have to act like his girlfriend the entire day. It gets tiring, you know.”

The redhead hummed in response and Gina took that as her cue to make her way towards the bathroom so that her friend couldn’t ask her any further questions about the topic of a certain curly haired boy. 

As she got ready, she was able to push those thoughts about Ricky out of her mind completely and replaced them with the excitement for exploring the city of Berlin today. It was a free day in the city and all of the groups could really do what they wanted as long as they stayed together. 

It took the two girls about a half an hour to get themselves fully ready for the day. Before they left the room, Gina looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a violet purple halter top, a pair of light wash jeans and her sneakers, while she let her curly hair fall naturally in her face. Ashlyn had mentioned that the weather was supposed to be in the high 70s, so she had to dress for the occasion. 

She hadn’t seen a nice day like this in Salt Lake City all spring. 

Once they were ready, they headed downstairs for breakfast. Their elevator ride down to the lobby was short and then they were immediately greeted by Ricky and Big Red, who had been waiting for them to get downstairs. 

“¡Hola muchachas!” Big Red grinned, lifting himself up from the wall that he was leaning against. 

Ricky turned to his best friend, “Looks like those six years of Spanish really paid off,” he turned back to the girls, “Hi.”

“Hey.” They both said in unison. Gina’s eyes rested on Ricky for a few moments, taking in his simple outfit consisting of a pair of jeans, a slightly oversized lilac t-shirt with his regular vans. She tried not to stare for too long and looked away after a minute. 

Together they all started walking towards the dining room of the hotel, where all of their classmates should be getting breakfast at that moment. Ashlyn and Big Red had already started walking ahead, leaving Ricky and Gina to walk together. 

Ricky turned to Gina, eyeing her for a moment, “Hey, pretty girl.” 

Pretty girl? Gina raised her eyebrows, not sure of how exactly to react to that statement (observation? compliment?). Is that just a new pet name? Nonetheless, it was enough for the blood to rush to her cheeks. 

Almost instantly, as if he was as confused as Gina was about what he had just said, Ricky’s eyebrows furrowed together in shock. His lips parted and he went to say something, potentially to cover and make up some type of excuse for the new nickname, but Gina beat him to it.

“New nickname?” She teased, nudging him slightly, a smirk evident in her voice. 

He let out a breathy laugh, “Uh, yeah, you could say that.”

Before they knew it they were in the dining room and the group of teenagers all headed towards the breakfast buffet. Ricky handed Gina a plate before grabbing his, and then sent her a small smile before he went to grab some food. 

She smiled at the small gesture and followed his actions by getting some food on her plate. She piled her plate with fruit, made a bagel, and grabbed a yogurt before she headed to the table that Big Red, Ashlyn and Ricky had just claimed. Gina sat down next to Ashlyn and across from Ricky.

“Wait–you two are matching.” Big Red pointed between Ricky and Gina, who were both wearing a similar shade of purple. 

“Oh my God.” Ashlyn laughed, covering her mouth.

Ricky looked down at his shirt and then looked at Gina’s, “Oh, shit, I can go change if you want me to. I didn’t even realize–”

Gina couldn’t help but laugh at his flusteredness, a smirk forming on her lips, “Calm down, Bowen, it’s really not a big deal.”

He looked at her, his cheeks slightly tinted pink by now, and cleared his throat, “Uh, yeah, right… okay.”

“So how was your walk last night?” Ashlyn asked the curly-haired boy, who had just begun eating a slice of his bacon. He looked up and then looked at Gina, who shrugged, not really knowing why her best friend had just asked that.

“Ah, yes, the walk that I didn’t even get an invitation to!” Big Red sighed, glaring at Ricky. 

“Dude, we’ve been over this five times this morning - you were passed out when I went! I didn’t want your cranky ass as company if I woke you up.”

“It would’ve been nice to at least get an invite.” Red mumbled in response.

“Yeah, Ricky, why didn’t you invite me?” Ashlyn pouted. 

“Gina could’ve invited you! I wouldn’t have cared.” Ricky groaned, sitting back in his seat.

“You sure you just didn’t want to be alone with her?” Ashlyn hummed, a small hint of amusement evident in her voice but it was enough for Gina to stop chewing her bagel momentarily. She looked over at her best friend, who had a small smile on her lips. 

Ricky laughed quickly, “Please, I already spend too much time with her. She was my last resort, obviously.”

She knew he was kidding, but Gina couldn’t help the lick of disappointment that it brought up. But still, she went along with it, and rolled her eyes at him, “Aw, I’m honored to be your last resort, Bowen.”

Ricky eyed her for a moment, but before he could respond, someone else had sat down at their table beside him. It was Carlos, who had a beaming smile on his face, “Hi, friends and my favorite couple… who are matching!”

“Carlos.” Ricky muttered, a small glare on his face. 

“Hey, Carlos!” Big Red said.

“Not to be rude,” Gina started, “but why are you sitting with us?”

“Well hello to you too, Gina!” He replied, sarcasm dripping in his voice. “Anyway, I’m not here to stay. But, I just wanted to get the word out that Seb and I are throwing a little party in our room later after curfew. You’re all invited.”

“Sounds boring.” Ricky said simply. Gina smiled a little at his response.

“If you have to know, a certain ex-girlfriend of yours is going to be there. If I were you, I wouldn’t miss another opportunity to make her jealous… the clock is ticking, Bowen.”

Gina frowned slightly at the reminder. It was true, they were only on their fourth day but the days were going fast and before they know it, it might be the end of the trip.

“Thanks for the reminder, man.” He replied, looking down at his plate for a moment. He then looked up at Gina, raising his brows, as if he were asking: You in?

She shrugged, “Do I even have a choice?”

“Perfect.” Carlos clapped his hands together. “What about you two, do you want to come?”

Big Red glanced over to Ashlyn, “I don’t know, Ash, do you want to skip the party and go on a walk past curfew?”

A groan escaped past the curly haired boy's lips, “Not this.”

“Oh, Red, that sounds like a great idea.”

Carlos, who was trying to figure out what exactly the teens were talking about, tilted his head, “Are you trying to say that Ricky and Gina went on a walk past curfew last night?”

“Maybe.” Red shrugged, a small smirk playing on his lips.

“It was nothing. I really don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.” Gina said, looking up at Carlos nonchalantly. He wasn’t going to let this down.

“Huh.” He nodded slowly, a small smile creeping on his lips, before turning his attention towards Red and Ashlyn, “so, for real, you guys coming?”

“Yeah, I’m game.” Big Red nodded.

“Me too.” Ashlyn agreed.

“Cool! See you tonight and see you two very soon.” Carlos said before getting up from his seat and heading towards his table. 

“Now he’s just getting under my skin.” Ricky said once Carlos was out of sight. 

“He’s not all that bad.” said Ashlyn.

Gina turned to her, brows raised, “No, Ash, he’s seriously out to get us. He’s definitely up to something.”

“I can’t believe he found out in the first place.” Red said, looking up from his phone.

“It’s all Bowen’s fault.” She said.

“Come on,” he moaned, “that’s not even fair! He would’ve never found out if you didn’t plant your lips on my cheek in front of my ex-girlfriend.”

“Your what on who’s cheek?” Red chimed in.

“We were over this, it was a way to get her jealous! And if you don’t recall, it worked .”

“When did this happen?” Ashlyn asked, looking over at Big Red who was just as confused as her.

“But Carlos found out and it’s because of you, Porter.”

Gina rolled her eyes, “Hello, he only found out because you freaked out over it. It’s really nothing to lose sleep over.”

“Clearly this is a situation where the both of you are to blame here.” Ashlyn cut into the seemingly never ending debate. Gina looked at her and sighed, nodding her head slightly. 

“When did the two of you start sounding like a married couple?” Big Red attempted not to laugh at the two of them. 

Ricky shoved him lightly in response and shook his head before returning to his plate. Gina laughed faintly in response, and too, went back to eating her breakfast. 

The rest of breakfast seemed to go by fast and once their entire travel group was finished, they all gathered in the lobby before they headed out to explore the city. As they stood in the lobby, the chaperones told them all the game plan for their day. 

Mr. Mazzara, who couldn’t look like more of a tourist with his backpack and camera draped over his neck, started the announcements, “Before we begin, we wanted to address something that happened last night while Ms. Jenn and I were down in the lobby… doing normal hotel guest things… Well, we saw two of you sneaking back into the hotel.” 

The forty some students all erupted into whispers. Gina pressed her lips into a thin line, trying to suppress the laugh that was bubbling in her chest. We really weren’t 007 out there.

“Alright, settle down, we don’t want you all getting any ideas.” The tech teacher continued, “Now we don’t know who it was, we couldn’t catch you in time, but this was after your 10pm curfew, so as a reminder you all have to stay in the hotel and your rooms after curfew.”

Ricky nudged Gina’s arm. She looked up at him and he had a small smirk on his lips, as if he were saying “we definitely almost got caught.” She shook her head in response and went back to paying attention to their teachers.

“Okay. Now that we’ve settled that, we wanted to remind you all of today’s plans.” Miss Jenn announced. “We’ll all be visiting the Berlin Wall memorial together. There, we’ll be seeing murals all throughout the wall. But then after that, you all are free to explore the city! With your groups, of course.”

“And, just because you all are of-age and able to drink here, we discourage your use of alcohol today. You’re on a school trip and representing us.”

“Representing a school from Utah?” Ashlyn whispered incredulously. 

“Lastly,” one of the other chaperones said, “We’ll be meeting back together for dinner around 7:00. Stay with your groups at all times.”

And with that, they all headed outside and loaded onto the buses. Ricky gladly took the window seat as he was very excited to see more of the German capital, though Gina really didn’t mind. After yet another round of roll call, the buses pulled away from the hotel and they headed for their first destination.

After a few minutes of driving as Gina looked down at her phone, the chaperones told everyone to look out their window at the Brandenburg Gate. She looked up from her phone and glanced out the window.

It looked a lot prettier at night. 

“It did.” Ricky agreed, a small smile on his lips at the memory.

Gina glanced over at him, slightly confused. She didn’t realize she was thinking out loud. She looked back out the window, until the gate was slowly becoming smaller and smaller as they got farther from the monument.

Soon their two minutes of driving had become ten minutes of driving and they neared their first stop of the day: the Berlin Wall memorial. Once parked, everyone got off of the buses and gathered with their groups.

As the fake couple made their way over to their group, Ricky snaked his hand into Gina’s and intertwined their fingers. Gina didn’t think twice about it and they neared their other three group members.

“Hey.” Gina greeted.

“Howdy.” Elias responded with a nod. Gina’s eyes moved over to Carlos, who sent her a little wave. 

“Uh, hi Nini.” Gina heard Ricky say and her head snapped in his direction. What?

“Um, hey.” The brunette forced a smile, shifting uncomfortably in her spot. Gina glanced between the two skeptically.

Did she miss something? It wouldn’t really be a big deal if they greeted each other regularly but they’d barely said two words to each other on this trip. 

And to make matters worse, Elias pulled Nini into him, again, just like yesterday as if he were trying to prove something to Ricky. Gina was starting to get irritated with it. He already had Nini—why was he acting so territorial? 

Carlos cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with whatever was going on, “So, who’s ready to start?”

“Gladly.” Nini replied breathily, grabbing Elias’ hand and dragging him in the direction of their moving classmates.

Gina looked up at Ricky and sent him a ‘what the hell?’ look. He shook his head in response, clearly not wanting to elaborate. 

Both the pair and Carlos walked together about a few feet from Nini and Elias. After a minute of walking, Carlos turned to them, “So, about your walk last night…”

“Why are you so obsessed with us?” Gina groaned, sending a glare in his direction. 

A small smirk played on his lips, “Come on, I was put in a group with you two and them. I need some kind of entertainment!”

“We’re literally in a foreign country. There’s plenty of other ways to be entertained.” Ricky said.

“Oh, please, I know. But I find this ,” he pointed between Ricky and Gina, “whole thing so… interesting.”

“That’s a little weird, Carlos, don’t you think? Do you dream about us?” Gina asked, tilting her head.

He pretended to think about it, “Can’t say I do, Gina. I just really love how I see right through the two of you. And besides, if no one else is going to stir the pot, I will.”

“You’re insufferable.” Ricky grumbled, rubbing his hand across his forehead in distress.

Carlos ignored the snide remark and looked around, “Well, since you guys have so many nice things to say about me, I’m going to go find Seb.” With that, he turned in the other direction and looked for his close friend. 

Ricky exhaled loudly, “You know how much I would love just to punch him square in the jaw?”

Gina chuckled, “I’d pay to see that.”

The two teenagers continued to walk together down the strip. Seeing the wall in person was almost surreal, especially after it being part of most of their history class lessons throughout the years. They were on the East Side Gallery of the wall, which displayed over 100 murals from different artists from across the world. 

As they walked, Gina turned to him, “So you’re not a secret history guru?”

Ricky laughed, “I like history but I wouldn’t consider myself a guru.”

“Well, that’s a first. Of all the places we’ve gone, you’ve had almost ten heart attacks because of how excited you were.”

“Hey,” he pretended to be offended, “I actually had eleven heart attacks.”

Gina giggled. They approached the first mural; it was amazing. It was a painting of two men sharing a kiss, called ‘Fraternal Kiss’, which is of the famous embrace between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker. There were many other tourists surrounding them, some were getting pictures, and others were enjoying the famous mural.

After five minutes spent at the mural, the two made their way to the following murals. Gina took pictures of most of them to send to her mom, and Ricky even offered to take pictures of her next to them. She let him, of course, and Gina excitedly posed in front of a few murals.

Once they had viewed a few more of the large paintings, they were met with a painted teal mural that was of a car “breaking” through the wall. It was called ‘The Trabant’ and it had to be Gina’s favorite yet. She gazed up at the mural with a look of amazement.
After a moment of looking up at it, she turned her head to Ricky, who had already been looking down at her. He smiled lightly, “You like this one?”

“Yeah! It’s so cool- it’s like a symbol of the East Germans who attempted to escape over the wall, you know?” She turned her head back to the mural.

“Porter, please,” he clapped his hands together as if he were praying, “tell me you’re a history guru.”

She scoffed, hitting him in the arm, “Hardly. It’s just… Well, yes, I like history but I took APUSH last year and we had this whole gigantic unit on The Cold War. It was just so interesting to me. I don’t know.”

“Huh.” Ricky hummed, looking down at her still, “Cute.”

Gina furrowed her eyebrows and glanced over to him, unsure of how to take that compliment, “You know what else is cute?”

He raised his brows, a smirk playing on his lips, “Hm?”

“Freaking out over a dinosaur skeleton.”

“I see what you were trying to do there, but babe, I’m not ashamed of being a dinosaur guru.”

“I’m feeling a little nice today and am going to ignore that you just called me babe and yourself a dinosaur guru in the same sentence.” She returned her eyes to the mural before shoving her phone in his chest, “Get a picture of me in front of this.”

“What do you say?”

“God, Bowen, I’m not 7.”

“I’m not taking a single picture until you say it.”

She crossed her arms, plastering a grin on her face, “Ricky Bowen, would you pretty please take a photo of me in front of this amazing mural with a cherry on top, please?”

The corners of his lips turned upwards, “That’s better. Now go on, get in front of it.”

Gina’s fake smile fell off her face and she mumbled as she walked right up to the wall, “I hate you.” 

“What was that I heard? You love me?” Ricky brought his hand up to cover his ear as if he were trying to hear her better. 

“You wish.” She said before smiling brightly for the picture. 

The two teenagers stood at the mural for a bit longer and their playful banter kept up for a while longer. Another forty five minutes had passed and they went through almost half of the murals until they ended up at the mural of Thierry Noir’s cartoon heads. 

The bright colors were fun and the cartoon-like heads weren’t too complex. Many people gathered arounds the mural and Gina even noticed that people were writing on it. Graffiti was one of the staples for all of these murals, though it wasn’t allowed, tourists took it upon themselves to write on the wall.

Gina nudged Ricky, who was looking up at the cartoon heads. He looked down at her and she motioned to everyone who was writing on the walls, “What do you think they’re writing?”

“Maybe they’re just writing a message or their names.” Ricky replied with a small shrug. He stared at the group of people who were writing on the mural and pondered something for a moment. Then, he looked down at Gina, “Hey.”

“Uh, hi?”

“What do you say we do something that’s probably illegal?”

Gina raised her brows, “Bowen, I would rather not get arrested.”

“We’re not going to get arrested. And, besides, weren’t you the one telling me to live a little last night?”

“That didn’t involve getting arrested.” She pointed out.

He groaned lightly and then without another word, he took her hand and dragged her towards the mural. Once they reached the wall, he grinned down at her, “Let’s write something.”

Gina laughed, “With what? I don’t know about you but I don’t carry sharpies around in my pocket.”

He frowned for a moment and then it was almost like a lightbulb had flashed above his head. He left Gina standing there for a moment and then moments later came back with a sharpie in his hand, “Got it.”

“How’d you get that so fast?” Gina asked in disbelief.

“I have my ways.” He smirked. “Nah, I asked to borrow their sharpie.” He pointed over to the couple admiring the mural.

Gina looked at the wall beside her. There were things written on it like positive quotes, signatures, and even profanities, “Okay… what should we write.”

Ricky pressed his lips into a thin line as he thought about it, “Uh, our names?”

“Our names?”

“I mean… only if you want to.”

Gina stared at him for a moment. His cheeks were already tinted pink and she couldn’t help but smile, “Give me that sharpie.”

She could see Ricky’s lips curve upwards in the corner of her eye as she started to write her name on the wall. Once she had written her first name, she handed the marker to Ricky. He wrote his first name above Gina’s and then drew a heart between the two.

“A heart?”

He turned his head, “We are dating, aren’t we?”

All Gina did was shake her head in response. She took out her phone and snapped a picture of their names together on the wall: Ricky ♡ Gina.

The next hour after that went by fairly quickly. Ricky and Gina knew how to have fun with each other and were able to be completely themselves when they’re together. It was a nice feeling for Gina. She didn’t have that with many people.

Then it was time to leave the Berlin Wall memorial with their school group. They all met back together around noon and then they were all free to roam the city as much as they wanted to. It was nice to have that much leeway, especially on a school trip. 

So once Ricky and Gina met with the rest of their group, they all collectively decided to get some shopping done and hopefully find some cool German souvenirs of some sort. 

Though they received knowing glances from Carlos, the pair walked hand in hand together down the streets of Berlin (much to Nini’s dismay). Gina had attempted to go hard with her flirting and touching when Nini was around, because hey, like Carlos said earlier, they’re halfway through this trip and it’s now or never.

The group started out going into almost every shop they saw. From souvenir shops to clothing stores—they went in all of them. 

When they were in one of the clothing stores, Gina had given Ricky a pair of sunglasses that she thought he wouldn’t look really good in, but much to her surprise she was very wrong. He did look good in them. She even convinced him to buy the sunglasses because of how well they suited him.

The day went on and Gina had noticed Ricky sending Nini subtle glances, as he always did, but it got her thinking back to their interaction from earlier. She couldn’t help but think maybe they talked. 

And she didn’t know why it bothered her so much because that’s what she’s here for. Helping Ricky get Nini back. That’s the plan.

And much to her dismay, Elias was still acting off too. The way he looks at Ricky, the way he’s getting protective over Nini… it wasn’t right. Gina wanted to get lost in everything that Elias is, but his attitude towards Ricky the last two days had been so off putting. It was almost disappointing.

Somewhere along the way, they had ran into Ashlyn and Big Red’s group. They all shopped together for a while and Red was basically bouncing off the walls at how excited he was for Seb and Carlos’ party that night because Seb kept talking it up.

Seb even had bought some booze for the occasion, since, of course, they were legal. 

Ashlyn and Gina hung out for a little while together as Big Red and Ricky went to shop somewhere else. Once they came back, the two boys were overly excited because they had found German gummy bears in one of the stores they had shopped in.

Their groups had stuck together until around 4:00. Carlos had decided to sneak away with Seb’s group, as he usually did, and left Gina and Ricky with Nini and Elias. 

Without much conversation involved, Nini and Elias decided to go off on their own. So then, it was just Gina and Ricky alone for a few hours in Berlin. And what did they do? 

They decided to try a whole bunch of different foods. Ricky had said, “Hey, you’re only in Germany once.”

They found a restaurant fairly close to where their group was meeting back up, hoping that their waiter spoke at least some sort of English, and to their surprise they did. 

Once they had ordered an array of different German foods, Gina looked up at the curly haired boy, “What was that whole thing with Nini about earlier? Anything I should know about?”

Ricky sighed audibly, “We kind of ran into each other last night in the lobby before we went on the walk. It was super awkward and nothing really happened but… I just… don’t know what I was expecting from her.”

She frowned slightly, wondering why Ricky didn’t tell her about this earlier. Not that he needed to tell her. She nodded anyway, “Oh. Right, that makes sense.”

“It just sucks that things aren’t the way they used to be with her.”

“They will be soon.” Gina tried to reassure him.

He shrugged, “Maybe not. At the rate this is going I’m never going to get back with her.”

“You need to stop worrying.” Gina said, sitting back in her seat, “I know I’ve said this but I see the way she looks at us when we’re being all couple-y. She hates it.”

“You think?”

“Oh definitely. And based on the way that Elias is acting too… somethings up.”

“Yeah, what the hell is that all about? The guy is a total tool.” Ricky scoffed, before looking up at Gina, “Uh, no offense…”

Gina sighed, picking at the napkin in front of her, then shrugged, “It’s true. Trust me the way he’s acting is a total turn off.”

Ricky looked more than pleased to hear that, “Huh. Good to know.”

A short while later, all six plates of their food arrived, and they were in for a surprise. The whole menu had been in German, and google translate wasn’t exactly helpful with it so they went into it blindly. 

In front of them on the table sat six very different looking foods. One looked like a dish of meatballs doused in some type of creamy white sauce, another was just a plate of sausages, there was one with a piece of fried meat with a lemon placed neatly on top, a plate of white asparagus, a dish that looked like spaghetti, and lastly there was a plate with mashed potatoes, fried onions and some type of black pudding?

“Well…” Ricky started, “this is all… something .”

Gina pressed her lips into a line, taking in all of the food in front of them, “It looks… good.”

He laughed, “Uh, so, which one is the schnitzel? Heard it’s pretty good.”

“I really hope it’s not that black pudding concoction.”

“Hope not… are these meatballs?”

“Looks like it.” Gina responded, not sure of where to start. She took the plate of white asparagus and placed it in front of Ricky, “Start with this.”

He looked up at her like she had three heads, “I’m not eating that.”

“It’s asparagus. It’s not going to kill you!”

“I’m afraid it would if I put that in my mouth.”

“Bowen, don’t tell me that you hate vegetables.”

“I like some vegetables! Just not… green… vegetables.” 

Gina couldn’t help but laugh audibly, “Well, you’re in luck, those are white .”

“I’m not eating it!” He took the plate and placed it in front of Gina. 

She stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes, “You’re literally a 7 year old in an 18 year olds body.” She stated as he poked at the black pudding with a look of disgust on his face.

He continued to examine all of the food carefully. Gina watched him with a small smile on her face. He was a picky eater, which wasn’t something that Gina would have expected from him.

“Do you like anything on this table?” She asked as she took a bite of the asparagus that was in front of her.

“Well,” he scrunched his nose, “I like sausages.”

Gina stifled a laugh, “Really? Good to know.”

“Is your mind always in the gutter? Or is it only when I’m around?” He looked up at her with a playful smile then winked at her.

She groaned, “That’s disgusting. Eat your sausages.”

“Gladly.” He hummed and started eating.

A short while later, as the two teenagers were halfway through their meals, Ricky sat back in his seat and looked up at Gina, “So, Red’s been keeping someone from me.”

“Keeping someone from you? Like he’s talking to someone?”

He nodded, “Yeah. He’s been on his phone most nights nonstop texting some guy, and like, I guess it’s fine that he won’t tell me who it is but I would like to know.”

“Do you have any idea who it could be?”

He shrugged, “Not really. It can’t be anyone on this trip, he’d be bugging out, and he’s never really had a huge crush on someone.”

She nodded slowly, “It must be pretty serious if he’s hiding that from you.”

“I just wish he would tell me about it. I don’t know… he’s always helping me with relationship shit and I want to help him too.”

“He’ll tell you eventually. When you really like someone, you don’t want to mess it up.” Gina said softly. She swallowed, “You know, like you and Nini.”

He looked back at her for a moment too long and then nodded, “Yeah… like me and Nini.”

Gina bit down on the inside of her cheek and returned her eyes to the table. They had tried most of everything, well at least Gina had tried most of everything while Ricky stuck to the sausage and mashed potatoes. 

“Hold up—why’s the spaghetti melting?” Ricky asked suddenly.

“ Melting? ”

“Yes, melting! Look.” He pointed to the spaghetti looking dish that had certainly melted.

“I thought we ordered spaghetti?” Gina said, furrowing her brows.

“Clearly it’s not spaghetti.”

“Then why does it look like spaghetti?” 

“Jesus, Porter, how am I supposed to know that?”

She glared at him, “Okay… well, what is it?”

“I don’t know. Try it.”

“Why do I have to try it?” 

“Because… what if it’s disgusting?”

“Oh great, thanks, Bowen.” She sighed, and looked down at the spaghetti dish. What on earth could it be? She took her clean fork, dipped it in the food and tasted it.

Why did it taste like ice cream?

“Well? What is it?” Ricky inquired, sitting up curiously.

“I think it’s ice cream.”

“Ice cream?”

“Yeah. Vanilla ice cream.” She scooped an even bigger scoop on her fork. “And… strawberry topping?”

Ricky took his spoon and tried some for himself. As he tasted the food, his eyes widened, “Holy shit. That’s good.”

Gina nodded in agreement, “I just can't wrap my head around why it looks like spaghetti.”

He shrugged, “Germany.”

The two ate the plate of ice cream together in silence for a few minutes. 

After a few moments, Gina turned to him, “I really wouldn’t pin you as a picky eater, you know.” she mused.

“And I wouldn’t pin you as someone who would willingly eat asparagus that’s… white .”

“Asparagus is really good, Bowen. You’re missing out. I’ll tell you what, when we have our movie night, we’re going to eat dinner and have asparagus with it. And you’re going to eat it.”

Ricky stopped chewing, raising his brow, “Did you actually just agree that we are having movie night?”

She rolled her eyes, “I might’ve.”

His lips turned up into a grin of triumph, “You like my company, Gina Porter.”

She tilted her head, squinting her eyes, “Hardly. You’re incredibly annoying.”

“But you want to spend a whole night having a movie marathon with me. I can’t be that annoying.”

Gina rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while, continuing to pick at their spaghetti-themed ice cream. 

Ricky seemed to really like the cold dessert and Gina was surprised that Ricky even liked vanilla ice cream. From what she saw today, he was incredibly picky.

“Okay, so,” she started, “you’re a skater who’s weirdly obsessed with dinosaurs, loves Star Wars, singing and getting high… you’re deathly afraid of heights and are the world’s pickiest eater? You’re a lot more than meets the eye, Bowen.” 

Ricky looked up from the ice cream, his brows raised, “I guess you could just say I’m not like the other guys.” He stared back at her for a moment, his face completely straight, until he cracked a smile.

“I was about to call off our fake relationship if you were serious about the I’m not like the other guys speech.” Gina shook her head and took a bite of her ice cream.

“I saw the opportunity and ran with it.”

They spent about a half hour longer at dinner, having fun and just talking. Once they were finished and paid for all of their food, it was time to meet their classmates back at the bus. 

The walk back to the group was short and they met back with Ashlyn and Red who were excited how they watched the sunset at the top of Berlin’s TV Tower. They both excitedly showed the two teenagers pictures of the amazing late spring sunset.

All of their fellow classmates had gathered together, the chaperones took attendance and then they were off to get dinner at a restaurant close to their hotel. 

Ricky and Gina sat idly, not eating, at dinner with their friends but still engaged in conversation. They talked about all the foods they ate, what they bought that day and Ashlyn couldn’t stop talking about the cute German girl she had run into.

During dinner, there was a buzz of excitement around some of their peers because of the party in Seb and Carlos’ room later on. 

Once everyone had finished dinner, it was 9:00 and time to head back to their hotel for the rest of the night. At the hotel, Ricky and Gina had bid each other goodbyes and then they all went their separate ways to their rooms.

━━━━━━

After an hour of hanging out in their separate rooms and waiting for the chaperones to do their nightly check in at each room, everyone decided to head to Carlos’ room for the gettogether. The girls had changed out of their clothes that they were wearing and put on some fresh sweats. Ricky and Red would meet at Gina and Ashlyn’s room so that they could all walk up together to avoid any suspicion. 

The two girls waited for them for a few minutes until they heard a knock on their door. Ashlyn answered and they were met by Ricky and Red. Gina grabbed her phone and then they all headed up to the party.

As they arrived at the room, Ashlyn and Red decided to go in first and that Ricky and Gina would go in after a minute. 

“You ready for this?” Ricky had asked, looking over at Gina who stood beside him. He had replaced his clothes from earlier with a pair of sweatpants and another t-shirt. He looked good.

From the hallway, the pair of teenagers could hear muffled conversations of the group of teenagers that were inside of the room. Gina looked over at him and nodded her head, “Yeah.”

Gina watched as Ricky gestured down to his hand with his eyes. After she followed his gaze, she saw that he had his hand held out for her to take and without any hesitation, she took it. With that, he brought his hand up to the door and knocked.

After a few moments, the door opened to reveal their classmate Seb. He immediately met them with a smile, “There’s my favorite couple!”

Ricky and Gina laughed together in unison. 

It was a group of mostly theatre kids in their grade. Almost immediately her eyes rested on Elias and Nini, who were sitting on one of the queen sized beds with their hands laced together. She moved her eyes to where EJ and Kourtney were standing by the window, and she dragged Ricky with her as she made a beeline for them. 

“Gina!” Kourtney greeted happily, pulling her into a hug. Gina laughed and mumbled a sort of response into the girl’s shoulder. They pulled away and Kourtney’s eyes rested on him, “Ricky.”

She sounded more than displeased with his presence. He nodded his head towards her curtly, “Kourtney.” 

Gina frowned slightly, but squeezed his hand, then turned to EJ, “Hi there.”

“Gi, I feel like I haven’t seen you in a hot second! How’s everything?”

“Things are good. How’s everything with you?” She inquired, mostly hinting towards everything with Kourtney. 

He laughed, picking up on her subtle hinting tone, “Things are pretty good.”

“I’m glad.” She smiled up at him warmly. “So how are the two of you liking Germany?”

“It’s so beautiful!” Kourtney gushed. “We went to Museum Island earlier, which was super convenient because it’s Nation Museum Day. Anyway the museums were so cool and the food here is insanely good too.”

Gina looked over at Ricky, who laughed, “We tried an ugly amount of food today. I don’t think I ever want to eat again.”

“Yeah… I don’t know why we did that to ourselves.” Gina chuckled and looked over to EJ, who had a small smile on his lips. 

Before anyone could say anything, Ricky and Gina both felt a pair of arms wrap around them, “Thanks for coming, besties.”

“Hi, Carlos.” Ricky feigned happiness and sent him the brightest smile. Gina smiled but didn’t respond to him… he’d been acting strange all day.

“Hey, Los.” EJ said, a warmth in his voice as he said Carlos’ nickname. Gina had almost forgotten that EJ had previously dated the spawn-of-Satan otherwise known as Carlos Rodriguez. 

“Hi.” He responded softly. 

Ricky and Gina exchanged glances. That wasn’t the Carlos they know. 

The dark haired boy cleared his throat, “Anyone want a drink?”

EJ, Kourtney, and Ricky all agreed to have a drink while Gina politely declined. Once Carlos scooted away, Kourtney looked between the two, “So, when exactly did this start?”

They looked at each other and Ricky laughed, “A few weeks ago actually. We were talking for a while and then made it official kind of just before the trip.”

Kourtney nodded her head slowly, “Right.”

Gina looked over at EJ, who sure as hell did not believe that. He would’ve known. But nonetheless, she plastered a smile on her face and leaned into the boy beside her, “Yeah, I mean, it kind of happened so fast. But I’m happy.”

“Well, I’m happy for the two of you.” Kourt smiled. “You two really suit each other.”

“Thanks, Kourt, I really appreciate it.” Gina smiled and looked up at EJ, who still stared at her skeptically.

He forced a laugh, “Yeah… you two are… something.”

Kourtney nudged him, “Hey! Be nice.”

“Nah,” he chuckled, “you two are cute together.”

Ricky nodded, “Thanks man.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Carlos interrupted them with a few drinks and handed them to everyone who wanted one. 

About a half hour had passed, and everyone in the room was mingling amongst themselves. Ricky and Gina had stuck together and had completely avoided the side of the room where Nini and Elias stood, though Gina would notice both Nini and Ricky stealing glances in each other’s direction.

“Alright everyone!” Carlos announced after a while. “What do you say if we play a game? Maybe some truth or dare?”

The room erupted in agreement. Gina personally didn’t care for truth or dare, nor had she ever played it, but she went along with it anyway. 

Everyone sat in a circle. Ricky and Gina sat next to each other on the ground while Nini and Elias sat on top of one of the beds. There were 13 teenagers there in total, so they all squeezed in where they could.

“Okay,” Seb began, “who wants to start?”

“I will.” Kaden, one of their classmates, said. “Uhhh, Steph! Truth or dare.”

“I’ll start easy. Truth.”

“Who, in this room, would you want to switch places with in this room for a day?”

She thought about it for a moment, “Honestly… Gina. You’re just so talented, literally no one is doing it like you.”

Gina instantly smiled, “Thanks, Steph. You’re so sweet.” Ricky had wrapped his arm around her, pulled her into him and squeezed her shoulders. Her eyes went to Nini, who looked completely uncomfortable.

Steph nodded her head in return and then turned to Ashlyn, “Ashlyn! Truth or dare?”

“I’ll go dare. Why not.” The redhead shrugged.

“Okay… I dare you to… Dance with no music for one minute.”

And so Ashlyn did exactly that. It really wasn’t good at all, and made Gina burst out into hysterical laughter. It was definitely a sight to see. After she finished her horribly silent dance, the red headed girl turned to Gina, “Gi, truth or dare?”

She thought about it for a moment, “Dare.”

Ashlyn pondered, “How about… you post one of your old selfies on your Instagram story. I’m talking one of your bad ones.”

Gina groaned and pulled out her phone.

“That’s impossible!” Ricky chimed in. “Gina doesn’t have any bad photos.”

“Oh, yes I do.” She sighed in embarrassment as she scrolled through her camera roll a few years back. Finally she had found a picture of a 13 year old Gina standing in the mirror, wearing a bright neon green dress, makeup caked on her face doing a duck face. 

She showed Ricky, who was leaning over her shoulder. He laughed but then turned to her, “It’s cute.”

She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows, not sure if he really meant that or if he was joking. She turned away from him and then posted it on her story, “Okay. Done.”

Most of the group had gotten out their phones to look at the picture, mostly laughs coming from their mouths. After everyone was done teasing her about her selfie, she turned to Seb, “Ah, Seb, truth or dare?”

“Truth!” He said happily, leaning back on the edge of the bed.

“What’s your secret talent?” 

“Ah,” he hummed, “I can make my ears wiggle.”

And after both Carlos and Rico had begged him to do it for them, he did. It was weird.

“Kourtney! Truth or dare?” Seb looked up at Kourtney, who sat on one of the beds beside EJ.

“Hmmm, truth.” She responded.

“Let’s hear about your first kiss!”

Gina smiled as she looked over at EJ, who was more than eager to hear this. Kourtney had looked at him for a split second before covering her face, “It’s embarrassing!”

“Come on, Kourt!” Nini said, “I love this story. Tell them!”

She sighed, “Fine. So it was with Daniel Jameson in 8th grade after we had gone on our first date when we saw Frozen in theaters. When his mom dropped us off, he walked me to the door, and then we hugged. It was so uncomfortable and then he just laid one on me! But it was half on my cheek, half on my lips…”

“Oh, Daniel…” EJ laughed, shaking his head, “what ever happened to that guy?”

“The world will never know.” She shrugged, a small laugh escaping her lips. “Okay, uh… Nini, truth or dare?” 

“Truth.”

“What’s the best thing about dating Elias? We all would like to know.”

Gina felt Ricky tense ever-so slightly beside her, so she leaned closer into him and eventually rested her head on his shoulder. She couldn’t see his reaction, but she hoped that he didn’t mind. 

He rested his hand on her lower back as a type of reassurance. Gina hadn’t been this close to him since the time she kissed his cheek, and she was close enough to smell the faint scent of fabric softener that lingered on his clothes. If she could guess what he normally smelled at home like it would be exactly this, fresh but subtly mixed with weed.

She liked sitting like this. It was… nice.

“Gosh, he’s probably the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.” Nini began.

Gina immediately felt herself frown at Nini’s words. She really needs to stop talking.

“He’s the sweetest, most gentle and kind guy I’ve ever met. Plus, he’s super good at telling jokes. I’m always laughing with him.” She grinned at him with a bright smile, as if she were trying to convince everyone around them that she meant it.

What a bunch of bull. It felt like she was trying to rub salt in Ricky’s wound. Gina didn’t even want to know how he was feeling about it. She’d feel too bad.

“Thanks, babe.” Elias hugged her from the side.

She then turned to the group, “Let’s see… Rico. Truth or dare?”

“Dare!” 

“Do the worm.” 

What a boring dare. Gina thought.

So their classmate did the worm almost effortlessly in the middle of the circle. Gina felt Ricky’s laugh vibrating underneath her, and she liked the sound of it. 

Then, Rico had dared one of their other classmates to prank call the front desk. They did, and the hotel employees were beyond confused at the teenager who was asking them some very weird questions in English.

Gina had to admit that she was actually having fun. She never actually had been to a party, beside the parties that Ashlyn had thrown a few times before, but it was nice. It felt good to feel like she had friends.

After a few minutes, Gina had lifted her head from Ricky’s shoulder and sat up next to him. The two shared a small glance as one of their peers dared Carlos to run down to the lobby and ask if they have any tampons.

So the boy went straight down to the lobby all the while everyone chatted amongst themselves until he returned, breathlessly and embarrassed. He lifted the tampon up in triumph, “Bag secured!”

A few of their classmates cheered and Seb laughed, “I didn’t think they’d understand you.”

“Please,” he scoffed, “It took a lot of uncomfortable explaining. They barely understood English.”

“Ah, Ricky!” Carlos hummed as he sat down in his spot across from Ricky and Gina on the floor, “truth or dare?”

Gina glanced over at the curly haired boy that had been sitting next to her. She watched him carefully as he toyed with his two options until he finally made his decision with the most upward confidence in his voice, “Dare.”

Her eyes moved back to Carlos, who held his drink tightly with a small smirk playing on his lips. She wondered what could possibly be going on inside his head. She was sure that the dare he was thinking of wasn’t harmful in any way and she was even more sure that the dare couldn’t possibly have anything to do with her—until Carlos’ playful eyes flicked to her. 

Almost immediately, she felt herself tense up. It was almost like she knew it even before the words came out of his mouth. 

“I dare you,” he started, “to kiss Gina.”

She felt Ricky tense up beside her. Gina’s eyes instantly darted over in Nini’s direction, who looked more than displeased with the dare. She looked away, and then to Ricky, who didn’t dare to look at her. 

“Oh, come on,” Ashlyn scoffed in an attempt to save her friends, “that’s too easy!” 

Carlos turned back to Ashlyn, who was sitting up on the bed beside Big Red. He raised his eyebrows, “If it’s so easy, then why can’t they just do it?”

Gina felt her heart rate start to increase just thinking about kissing Ricky. In the five days they’ve been on the trip, they’ve done a lot: they’ve spent almost all of their time together, they’ve held hands, confided in each other, and even have called each other those God-awful pet names. All of which had almost successfully convinced their classmates they were an item (minus a few setbacks). But kissing? It was totally out of the cards for the both of them. 

She’s always liked Carlos, but now she didn’t know if she liked him. Especially since he knew about their situation… It was all kinds of evil.

Ricky cleared his throat and forced a laugh, “Of course it’s easy… but PDA really isn’t our thing, Carlos.”

Gina knew that Ricky desperately wanted to glare daggers at Carlos but knew better not to throw more gasoline on the fire. 

“There’s not many people here.” Carlos shrugged after he looked around the room. “Anyway, it’s not PDA. It’s a dare.”

Ricky’s head turned to Gina for a moment and then turned back to the group. He opened his mouth to say something further, but Carlos met him with another comment.

“Wait, you guys have kissed each other right?”

Ricky swallowed, “Yes, we have.”

“So just do it.” Carlos urged on.

“What, is this a Nike commercial?” Big Red chimed in and laughed nervously. 

Gina had never kissed anyone in her life. Sure, she’s talked to a few boys in her lifetime but with her constant track record of moving from place to place, she had never gotten far enough to even explore those relationships. 

A part of her was screaming to get out of this and that she didn’t want Ricky Bowen to be her first kiss. But if they ran out refusing to kiss each other, their plan would completely blow up in their face. Nobody would believe their relationship was real if they didn’t kiss each other after Ricky had just said they’ve kissed before.

After a few more seconds of thinking, Gina decided to push the little voice in her head that was screaming “No, don’t do it!” off to the side. Besides, it was just one kiss. Isn’t it about the second one that truly matters?

She turned to him and rested her hand on top of his, “Babe,” she began, plastering a sweet smile on her face. He turned to her, his eyes wide, “what’s all the fuss about? Just kiss me.”

Ricky’s mouth fell agape and his eyes were screaming: “What about rule #3?”

Gina raised her eyebrows, indicating that this time was the one exception to that rule. They had absolutely no way of getting out of it.

So she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed her lips onto his messily. She felt him tense under her touch, but after a few moments, she felt him kiss her back. The way he kissed her was nervous and unsure at first, just like Gina, but then after a few moments it seemed like he melted into it. 

Ricky brought his hand up to cup her cheek gently and leaned in closer to her which only deepened the kiss further, seeming like it was an attempt to make it seem like they’ve done it before. Gina’s heart was pounding against her ribcage and she couldn’t tell if it was from the adrenaline, the eyes on them, or just the fact that she was actually kissing Ricky. And she didn’t hate it.

His lips were soft and gentle on hers and they were most certainly enough for Gina to forget where they were and the fact that they were in a room full of people. Somewhere along the way, Ricky had intertwined their fingers together. It all felt so pure and innocent and was something entirely new for Gina. 

And then she let go. Her eyes were still closed, not yet ready to let go of the feeling of kissing someone. Once she opened her eyes, Ricky was staring right back at her with his big brown eyes. She could feel his uneven breath on her skin and she wondered if he could feel hers too. Everything seemed so different. Everything felt different. 

It was like something shifted between them. Something had shifted behind his brown eyes; they were softer. A lot softer. Yet, Gina couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Their eyes were locked for a beat too long, until Gina was pulled back to reality. 

She turned her head to the group, “God,” Gina laughed breathlessly, “he just hates PDA. He didn’t even want to kiss me!” 

She could feel Ricky’s eyes on her as she interacted with the rest of the group. It was a few moments until Ricky was able to react. He turned to the rest of the group and let out a seemingly forced laugh, “Yeah… uh… PDA, not my thing…”

“That was adorable.” Carlos sighed happily, clapping his hands together, a smirk playing on his lips. Gina wanted nothing more than to go over and slap it off his face, but refrained as she felt Ricky squeeze her hand.

Her eyes burned into Carlos’, who sat across from them with a more than satisfied smile. Gina tried to focus on how much she disliked him in that moment, but really couldn’t with the lingering thoughts of Ricky’s lips in the back of her mind. 

“Ricky…” Nini said after a minute. Gina felt her stomach twist as she looked up at his ex-girlfriend. What could she possibly have to say?

He glanced over at her, “Uh, yeah?”

“It’s your turn.” She replied, leaning into Elias ever-so slightly. 

Gina narrowed her eyes. After a moment Ricky cleared his throat, “Uh… yeah, right. Um, Red, truth or dare?”

Big Red sat up straight, “Um… truth.”

“Where’s the worst place you got caught smoking a joint?”

“Oh how I love this story,” Red mused, “it was Freshman year, I was in the corner of the library – you know, the anime and manga section obviously, and I was just really feeling like I wanted to get high. So, I just lit one, not a thought up there in my mind.”

Gina felt Ricky laugh lightly next to her. She turned her head slightly to the right, trying to see more of him out of her peripheral.

“So, anyway, I’m reading some manga and Mazzara came stomping over and caught me in broad daylight. And without a single care in the world, my high told me to wink at him.”

“You winked at him?” Seb covered his mouth in surprise.

“Yup. Got suspended and had to take a class on drugs and alcohol. What a time.”

“Did you ever get caught again?” Elias asked curiously.

Big Red shrugged, “Nah. Ricky and I ended up finding the right times and places where we won’t get caught. Ah, Ashlyn! Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to… do a freestyle rap right here, right now.”

As Ashlyn gladly accepted the dare and their classmates were laughing hysterically, Gina pretended to be listening and paying attention but her mind was still whirling over the kiss that she had shared with Ricky moments ago. She tried to ignore the fact that he had been eerily quiet ever since he had asked Big Red about the worst place he’d been caught smoking. 

She looked down at her lap, where her fingers were still firmly intertwined with his, and she suddenly felt her cheeks start to burn and her stomach twist once again. She could still feel the trace of his lips on hers and it made her dizzy. It had to be the fact that it was her first kiss… right? Why else would she be feeling this way? 

Gina swallowed and looked up, her eyes instantly meeting EJ’s who had been looking at her already. He knew it was her first kiss and he most definitely knew something was up with her. 

She sent him a small smile and then averted her eyes to Natalie, who was currently talking about the worst day of her life when she dropped her hamster in the toilet. Gina couldn’t care less about Natalie and her hamster, nor what anyone else had to say. The only thing she could think of was Ricky.

“…Gina.”

She looked up at who was calling her name. It was Natalie. 

“Truth or dare?”

She wasn’t about to do a dare, though Natalie was harmless, she just didn’t have the energy, “Truth.”

“What is your favorite thing about being with Ricky?”

Does everything have to be about him? Gina let out a small laugh and then looked over at Ricky, who had already been looking back at her. His brows were raised with curiosity.

“Well,” she started, “I really like the way that I can be truly and completely myself around him.”

A small smile started to creep on his lips, causing the heat to rise to Gina’s cheeks. She tore her eyes away from him and looked towards Natalie, who had the warmest smile on her face.

“That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Natalie raised her hand and patted her chest.

Gina let out an awkward laugh, suddenly itching to get out from underneath everyone’s gaze, especially Ricky’s. She looked around the room, “Um, EJ. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” He shrugged.

She bit down on her lip for a moment, “Who do you think is the most beautiful person in this room?”

He sent her a subtle glare while she smiled back at him. He let out a deep breath and pretended to think about it, “Hands down miss Kourtney Greene.”

The room went silent for a moment, and EJ’s face got visibly red. He turned his face to look at Kourtney who looked up at him, her smile growing bigger by the second, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Awww!” Nini gushed, covering her cheeks as she looked at the love stricken teenagers.

EJ looked away from Kourtney and rubbed his neck nervously, “Uh… Elias. Truth or dare?”

“Um… dare.”

“Alright, tell an embarrassing story about yourself.”

“So just a few weeks ago, actually, I had to get an Uber home from practice because my car was in the shop. Well anyway, my Uber had told me they were there… so I got into the back of a car with the same make and model of my Uber driver and it wasn’t my Uber driver…” he laughed. “It was this poor old lady, she had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to cry. I felt so bad.”

Gina heard Ricky stifle a laugh beside her. She pressed her lips in a thin line, trying her best not to laugh either.

“Babe, oh my gosh, you didn’t tell me that!” Nini grasped his bicep, causing Gina to frown. 

But she didn’t think it was because she was jealous of Nini. More because she knew that something as little as that would bother Ricky to no end. She pushed that thought out of her head. Shouldn't she be jealous of Nini because she has a crush on Elias? Why is everything so backward tonight?

The rest of the night went by painfully slow. They played truth or dare for another 45 minutes. Ricky and Gina had barely interacted the remainder of the party, only when they were both involved in a truth or dare or they had to keep their fake-couple act up.

The party had finally ended around about 1am, when everyone decided that they should get going before the chaperones found anything out. Ricky and Gina didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Carlos—he’d be hearing from them tomorrow.

After Gina had hugged EJ goodnight, she left with Big Red, Ashlyn, and Ricky. Everyone was silent as they walked down the hall to the elevator, the events of the night on everyone’s mind. 

While they were in the elevator, Big Red clicked his tongue, laughing nervously, “I can’t wait to sleep.”

Ricky and Gina both mumbled incoherent responses. They stood at opposite sides of the elevator, with almost too much space between them. Gina desperately wanted to go to her room.

“I know. I’m tired as hell.” Ashlyn agreed, rocking on her heels.

Finally, the doors opened to Ashlyn and Gina’s floor. Ashlyn bid the boys goodnight as they both walked out on the floor.

Gina looked back at the boys and sent them both an awkward smile, her eyes lingering on Ricky for a moment, “Night, guys.”

“Goooodnight!” Red said cheerfully.

Ricky inhaled, “Night, Gina.”

And then the doors closed.

Once they got back to their room, a strangely quiet Gina had decided to go right into the bathroom and splash some water on her face as an attempt to knock herself out of whatever trance she was in. 

She stared at herself in the mirror for a few moments. This was so unlike her. Yes, she was secretly a hopeless romantic and dreamed of her first kiss, but she never thought it would have this affect on her. 

She lifted herself from the counter and got herself cleaned up for the night. After she was done, she left the bathroom. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ashlyn asked softly as Gina walked out of the bathroom.

“Talk about what?” She knew what.

“The fact that you and Ricky kissed tonight. And… it was your first kiss?”

Gina swallowed and began to distract herself with the items in her backpack, “It’s fine. It was either kiss him or get exposed—there really wasn’t another option.”

She grabbed her headphones from her backpack and began untangling the wires as an attempt to occupy herself. Ashlyn was taking too long to respond and it was making Gina be on edge.

“You sure?” Her best friend asked. “Gi, I know you’re a good actress and you’re fine with pushing things down… but I’m here to talk if you need to.”

She stopped fiddling with the headphones for a second. Gina felt different but she didn’t know how she could possibly explain it to Ashlyn. She didn’t even know how she was feeling.

“And if you felt anything… you know that’s okay, right?”

She dropped her headphones onto the desk. She turned around to face the redhead, who was sitting on the bed with a look of concern on her face, “Feel anything? Ash, are you crazy?”

Ashlyn’s lips parted, “Well, you just seemed so quiet and not like yourself after it happens so I thought maybe–”

Gina laughed, “No, no… I was a little stressed out that I had just had my first kiss and it was with Ricky, of all people… and under that kind of circumstance in front of a bunch of people, you know?”

She nodded her head slowly, processing Gina’s words, “Yeah. That makes sense.”

“Ash,” Gina started, sitting down on the opposite bed, “I promise you that I didn’t feel anything other than awkward and weird. I mean, come on, Ricky is… well, Ricky. He’s just a friend.”

Ashlyn stared right into her eyes, as if she was trying to detect a lie, but eventually was unable to find one. Gina hoped that she sounded believable because she would rather jump off a cliff than admit that she felt something real while kissing Ricky.

After a moment, the redhead nodded, “Okay. I believe you.”

Gina smiled at her friend, feeling a sense of triumph wash over her, “Let’s just hope I don’t have to kiss him again.”

“I cannot believe that Carlos did that to you two.”

The curly haired girl shook her head, “You know, I used to not mind him but after spending this whole trip with him… he’s like a pest you can’t get rid of. Especially since he knows about Ricky and me.”

“He’s not going to let it down either.” Ashlyn said, climbing into bed.

“I know.” Gina said softly and then a yawn escaped past her lips. “We should get some sleep.”

Ashlyn agreed, “Yeah… we should. It’s crazy how we’re already headed for Prague tomorrow.”

Gina fell back onto the bed, “I know. This trip is going by so fast.”

After a minute, Ashlyn flipped the light switch off, “Well, night, Gi.”

“Night, Ash.” Gina said as she pulled the covers over her body. She grabbed her phone once she was settled in and texted her mom:

Night Mama. I’ll send you pics in the morning <3

After she had sent her text, she moved on to Instagram. She scrolled through the various posts from celebrities, her classmates and even positive motivation quotes. She was reading one of the positive quotes when she got a notification that said she was tagged in a post. 

She clicked on the notification and it brought her to a photo posted by Ricky. It was the one of them standing in front of the dinosaur skeleton back in London, where Gina had kissed him on the cheek. Though it was only two days ago, it seems like forever ago. 

The caption read: You make my heart saur! ❤️

A smile played in her lips. The familiar warm feeling had entered her stomach again. She pushed it back and commented: You’re a dork ❤️

After a minute of staring at the photo, Gina returned back to looking at her feed. While she browsed, she let her mind wander back at the events of that night. One thing had been repeating in her mind ever since it had happened: They kissed. Ricky was her first kiss. 

She remembered the feeling and basked in it for a moment. She wondered what it would be like to actually kiss someone that she loved and if it would be anything like the one she shared with Ricky.

And then she wondered what it felt like for Ricky. Did he feel extremely weird about it too? Did he feel half of what she felt? Did it mean anything to him at all? Is it going to ruin their friendship?

She sighed and told herself to stop worrying. It was just Ricky and they’d be the same Ricky and Gina that they’ve always been in the morning. 

Before Gina was about to turn her phone off for the night and be alone with her thoughts, she received a text message from the boy that’s been clouding her thoughts:

Night 🍯-🧈-🥐

A laugh escaped past her lips. She started typing.

That’s a croissant. Not a biscuit.

Hey they don’t have a biscuit emoji!

Night, Bowen.

Chapter Text

“Carlos Rodriguez is the bane of my whole entire existence! Who the hell does he think he is?” Ricky fell back onto his bed, bringing his hands up to cover his face.

Big Red sat at the edge of his bed, “Dude, are you–”

“No, no—” Ricky sat up again, shaking his head vigorously, “because Carlos has been acting creepy as hell towards us this entire trip even before he knew about Gina and me… and he has the nerve to pull that shit?”

“Ricky, are you okay?”

“The next time I see him, he’s going to regret it! I might actually kill him, Red, I swear!” He fell back onto the bed again. “Like, for real, why would he do that to us? Embarrass both Gina and me in front of everyone too! And, oh God, Gina—we kissed and now everything is going to be a complete fucking disaster–”

“Ricky,” Red stood up, “Dude, you need to chill!”

“I can’t chill, Red! Carlos just ruined everything and when I get my hands on that little–”

“Enough about Carlos! Dude, you need to take a breather…” 

“Did you not see the shit he just pulled, Red? He literally made Gina and I kiss against our will! I bet he was planning it all day long—that little–”

“I think you’re overreacting. Yes, what he did was a dick move, but it’s not the worst thing that’s happened to you.”

Ricky frowned, “I think it is!”

“Bro, you really are overreacting.”

“Overreacting? I’m not overreacting! I think my emotions are pretty valid here!”

“They are, but, you need to really take a step back.”

“Jesus, when did you become my therapist?” Ricky groaned.

“I’ve always been your therapist. But, I do have to say myself, all of this is pretty interesting though.” Red shrugged.

“Interesting? How the hell is my misery interesting?”

“Well…”

“Well? Well what?” He asked, sitting up again.

“Well,” his best friend started, “I’m just saying… I think you’re freaking out because you might’ve felt something when you kissed Gina.”

“Freaking out because I felt something? Yes, I felt something—disgust! It was horrible! Worst experience of my life! That was literally one of our rules Red, you know no kissing? Why would I want to kiss Gina… that’s completely insane!”

“Dude, you’re acting insane. It’s not a big deal if you liked kissing her.”

Ricky groaned loudly, “I promise you, Red, I didn’t feel anything when we kissed. It was just… a big-old-nothing.”

He was usually totally transparent when it came to telling his best friend things, especially things that pertained to his love life, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit that that big-old-nothing was definitely a big-old-something. It freaked him out.

“Right. Nothing.” Red nodded slowly, as if he wasn’t thoroughly convinced.

“Why doesn’t it sound like you’re convinced?”

“I don’t know, it’s just, you’re bugging out over kissing Gina and how you want to kill Carlos, but you haven’t mentioned a bit about Nini. Like she’s not even a thought in your head.” The redhead continued. “Shouldn’t you be worried about how Nini felt about that whole thing?”

Ricky frowned, “Well, of course I’m concerned with how she felt!” 

He wasn’t actually. After thinking about it for a moment, he really hadn’t even thought about what her reaction was to the kiss. 

He sighed, “Red, look, I just don’t want things to be weird between me and Gina—we have five more days left and I really don’t want things to be awkward because of some stupid kiss. And it was very weird kissing her, so of course I’m upset. We’re friends… I don’t want things to change.”

It took Big Red a few moments to process everything that the boy had just said, but after careful thought, he sighed, “Okay. Alright, I believe you.” 

“Thank you!” 

Pretending that their kiss meant nothing was easier said than done.

Now Ricky was panicking.

It was currently the next morning and he had been standing in the shower, quite literally just standing there under the water that poured out of the showerhead. He thought that maybe, just maybe, a shower could be the cure to all of his problems. But he discovered, after standing there for at least 45 minutes, that it couldn’t be further than the truth. 

The shower only made it all worse because he now was left alone with his thoughts. So, why was Ricky panicking in the shower at 7 o’clock in the morning you ask?

Because he and Gina kissed last night. They kissed. And Ricky couldn’t get it out of his head.

He hoped that his goodnight sleep would have gotten the thought of her lips off of his mind, but it didn’t. He woke up the same way he had fallen asleep—with Gina on his mind.

It wasn’t just the fact that he couldn’t quite get the feeling of her soft, warm lips, and the way that she subtly smelled of strawberries out of his head, but it was also the fact that it made him feel all warm inside, and that wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling to him. 

Last night, along with being scared of the way it made him feel, he had been completely freaked out that everything between him and Gina would now be ruined. They finally had developed some sort of friendship, but after they had kissed, Ricky noticed the way she was acting and it only made him worry even more.

He didn’t want it to ruin what they had. 

So before he fell asleep, he was staring up at the ceiling, quite literally filling up with anxiety over wondering if he and Gina were going to be okay. And then he got the grand idea of posting something on his Instagram, at almost 2am.

It was the picture of them in front of the dinosaur skeleton, and yes, Ricky might have stared at it for way too long before he posted it to his Instagram. And much to his surprise, Gina liked and commented almost instantly.

Though it did assure him somewhat, that post was for show, so he sat and stared at her comment for a few more minutes before ripping the bandaid off and texted her. He had to know.

And luckily, he did get that assurance. Through text, they were the same Ricky and Gina that they were before they had kissed. But, everything could still feel different in the morning when they’re face to face.

That was why Ricky was standing under the water for so long. He was anxiously awaiting seeing Gina again. 

For all he knew, Gina couldn’t care less about their kiss because it meant nothing to her. Of course, deep down, he secretly hoped that it wasn’t just him that had been obsessively replaying the moment in his head. But still, there was a small possibility that the whole thing didn’t faze her in the slightest. However, there was the fact that she had been eerily quiet the rest of the night after they had shared the kiss which could mean something… right?

“Dude, would you hurry up? We have to be downstairs in twenty minutes!” Big Red’s voice had snapped Ricky out of his thoughts.

He sighed and finally turned the faucet off, “Yeah, sorry man, I’ll be out in a few!”

He climbed out of the shower and dried himself off, then messily threw his clothes onto his body. He stared in the mirror for a good five minutes, giving himself a quiet pep-talk saying that everything is going to be fine. Once he was finished in the bathroom, he made his way towards his suitcase and began stuffing the rest of his belongings into it. 

“You know,” Big Red said from his bed, “You’re lucky I didn’t have to piss. You were in there for, like, an hour.”

“You could’ve just walked in if you had to!” Ricky replied as he zipped his suitcase.

“Why were you in there for so long anyway? Were you having some type of a crisis?”

“I don’t know I was just doing a lot of thinking.” He shrugged, placing his suitcase onto the floor.

“About a certain fake-girlfriend, I presume?” Big Red hummed, a small smile playing on his lips.

“No,” he mumbled, turning around and sitting down on his bed, “Alright, enough about me… I think it’s time to tell me who your mystery boyfriend is.”

Straightaway his best friend’s face had turned bright red and he shook his head, “Nope! You’re going to give me hell for it!”

Ricky groaned, “Why would I give you hell for it? Is it someone I hate, because you know there's a long list of people that I hate. Even if it were someone I hate, I’ll support you no matter what.”

“Kind of like me with you and Nini.”

Ricky sat up, “I’m sorry what? You hate Nini?”

“No, I don’t hate her. It’s just—well, actually never mind, pretend like I didn’t say anything!”

“Dude! You can’t just spring that on me and expect me not to want to hear what you were going to say!”

Big Red sighed audibly, “Dude, it really doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not even fair! I think I deserve to know what you were going to say, Red. And we’re not even done talking about you and this guy!”

“Too bad, I’m done talking about it!” Red huffed. “And yeah, with the Nini thing, I was going to say… well, I never really liked the two of you together.”

“Uh, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because… you’ve loved her for basically your whole life and I just didn’t want to be the deciding factor, I guess.”

“Well, what was it about our relationship you didn’t like?”

Red sighed, “Dude, come on… let’s just talk about this later, okay? We have to be down there in like two minutes.”

Ricky frowned. Why wouldn’t Big Red say anything if he didn’t like him and Nini together? And what exactly was it about their relationship that he didn’t like? 

He got up and grabbed his suitcase, following Big Red, who was standing by the door. Once he approached him, Ricky stopped, “You know we’re not done with either of these conversations. We have a four hour train ride later, don’t forget.”

Red threw his head back and sighed, then plastered a smile on his face, “Or, we could just wait until after our trip is done to talk about it.”

“Nah. I think today is the perfect day to tell me who mystery boy is and what was wrong with my relationship with my ex, don’t you think?”

Big Red opened the door, “I should’ve never said anything!”

On the elevator ride downstairs, Ricky’s rampant thoughts about Big Red’s secret romance and his views on his relationship with Nini were replaced with anxiety about seeing Gina again. Was he supposed to act normal? Is there an unspoken rule that they just shouldn’t talk about what had happened? Or should they talk about it?

Oh hey, Gina! Remember how we kissed last night—yeah well it really freaked me out and for some reason I can’t stop thinking about it. So how are you?

He swallowed and nervously played with the handle of his suitcase as the elevator doors opened. The two boys silently exited and made their way to the lobby.

His nerves heightened as his eyes landed on her. She was talking animatedly to both Ashlyn and EJ, almost seeming like there was nothing bothering her. Ricky felt his stomach twist as he and Red approached the group of three.

“Hey!” Red greeted once they all met.

Gina glanced over to the pair, and Ricky felt his heart start to race—now what was he supposed to say?

“Hi, guys.” Ashlyn said with a smile in her voice. 

“Hey, pretty boy.” Gina nudged Ricky, and his eyes immediately went wide. He looked back at her, feeling a bit more at ease as he looked into her eyes. Maybe it was all just in his head.

His lips curved upwards at the nickname tease from yesterday, “Hey, pretty girl.”

“Okay,” EJ started, causing Ricky and Gina to look away, “ew.”

“Shut up, Elijah James.” Gina rolled her eyes. Ricky’s eyes moved to Red, who mouthed ‘Elijah James?’ and the curly haired boy sent him an unsure shrug in return. She then turned to Ricky, “We need to talk.”

His stomach immediately twisted, not yet ready to talk about their kiss. Nonetheless, he nodded anyway, and then Gina dragged him away from their group.

There was something different in the air and Ricky couldn’t quite put his finger on it but he just decided to push it away for now, “Listen—about last night—” he began.

“EJ knows–” Gina said at the same time. Her eyebrows immediately furrowed and her eyes widened slightly, “Sorry what were you going to say?”

“Wait—hold up, did you say EJ knows?” 

Gina looked around them, “Yeah. He knows.”

“How did he find out?” Ricky questioned.

“Well, he knows me well enough to know that you and I haven’t been talking for a few weeks. Not to mention he noticed how I was acting last night… Um, anyways, he showed up to our door like an hour ago and basically forced me to tell him what was going on.”

There were a few things to unpack there. Ricky swallowed, “Shit, do you think he’ll tell Kourtney?” 

She shook her head, “After all of my explaining, I literally begged him not to, and I really don’t think he’d do that to us. He’s not that type of person.”

“Okay.” Ricky nodded his head slowly. “Alright, we have four people that know about us and it’s only day six.”

She chuckled lightly, “By the end of this trip half of the class will know.”

“Don’t put that negative energy into the universe, Porter.”

A small smile played on her lips as she looked up at him. The two of them stood at least a foot apart, but it seemed much further to Ricky. Silence fell between them again, and for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, his thoughts were consumed by the thought of Gina’s lips. 

He bit down on his lip and shoved his hands into his pockets, before clearing his throat, “Uh, hey, about last night–”

“It was nothing.” Gina said quickly. “It was just one of those situations we couldn’t get out of.”

Ricky nodded slowly, feeling a lick of disappointment wash over him, “Yeah… nothing. I just wanted to make sure we were cool.”

“Of course we are, Bowen.”

He put a smile on his face as he looked back at her. Once again, a small silence fell between the pair of teenagers. Ricky didn’t know really what to say; it felt weird pretending like he hadn’t been thinking about their kiss for the past twelve hours. 

“So, are you ready for the zoo today?” He asked in hopes to break their awkward silence.

She shrugged, “I’m not a big fan of zoos, I’m not sure why we have to go to one on this trip.”

“Yeah me neither… I’ve only been to the zoo once when I was seven and I kind of had a bad experience there.”

Gina raised her eyebrows curiously, as if she were asking him to elaborate on his zoo-horror-story. 

Ricky sighed, “So we were going to the monkey habitat, right? And I was eating, I don’t know, popcorn I think and this one monkey went batshit crazy over my popcorn - was banging on the glass and everything… Long story short we left shortly after because I was literally terrified. Never been to a zoo since.”

Gina’s lips curled up into a smile, shaking her head, “You have a very interesting life, Bowen.”

“You’re right. A monkey going absolute bananas over my popcorn would only happen to me.” Ricky cracked a grin, almost proud of the small pun he came up with. 

“Nice one.” Gina mused, her eyes lingering on him for a moment. “Let me guess… now you’re afraid of monkeys?”

He didn’t even try to fight it, mumbling, “Only mildly. They’re freaky.”

“Right. I’ll add that one to the list.”

He turned to her, “List?”

She smirked, “You know the list of all your fears. Heights, birds, monkeys… clearly you have a lot to work on.”

“Hey, I think all three of those are valid fears!” Ricky defended. “What about you? What are you scared of?”

“Nothing.” Gina replied nonchalantly, holding her arms close to her chest.

Ricky cocked his brow, “Come on, everyone’s afraid of something.”

She stared up at him for a few moments and as she was about to say something, they were interrupted by the high pitched voice of their drama teacher, who had started calling out their names for attendance. 

The curly haired boy frowned, feeling a bit disappointed that Miss Jenn had interrupted their conversation at that exact moment. 

After roll call was taken and their room keys were all collected, everyone headed for the buses and loaded their luggage onto the bus. Then they all gathered on the bus and, of course, Ricky and Gina sat together.

The bus ride to the zoo went by fairly quickly. While they had made some small talk, Ricky had sat in the window seat, trying to keep his attention on the city outside while Gina had spent the entire ride on her phone.

Though they continued with their banter as usual, Ricky still really wasn’t sure how to handle their friendship after they shared that kiss. It didn’t seem to faze Gina or even seem like it was something that was on her mind, because if it was, then she really was a good actor. 

But still, though she didn’t seem bothered by it, there was still some tension looming in the air. It felt weird and it couldn’t be only Ricky feeling it.

Once the bus reached the Berlin Zoological Garden, the students loaded off of the bus and met up with their groups as usual. 

“Hey pals.” Carlos chirped, a large grin on his lips as he eyed Ricky and Gina. 

“Carlos.” Gina replied stiffly and turned to their other group members, “Hi, Nini! Hi, Elias.”

“Hey.” They both greeted in unison. Elias nudged his girlfriend slightly, receiving a giggle to escape Nini’s lips. 

Ricky frowned lightly, then plastered on his sweet smile, “Hey.”

“So, are we ready to get going?” Elias asked the group, clapping his hands together. Nini leaned into Elias and looked up at him sweetly, before nodding her head. Ricky pretended not to notice.

“As ready as I can be.” Carlos replied with a shrug. 

Gina nudged Ricky’s side, causing him to look back at her. She nodded her head towards Carlos, as if to say “He can’t get off that easy.”

As the aforementioned boy began to walk towards the Zoo’s entrance, Ricky stopped him. “Hey, Carlos, can we talk to you real quick?” He asked as Nini and Elias were walking away. 

Carlos looked back at him and Gina, the small frown on his lips telling them that he didn’t want to have this conversation, “Yeah… what’s up, lovebirds?”

“Care to explain why you pulled that little stunt last night?” Ricky crossed his arms, his brows raising. 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shrugged in response, the corners of his lips twitching up into a smirk.

“You know exactly what he’s talking about.” Gina said.

“I don’t know… maybe you should spell it out for me.”

Ricky groaned, “Stop being a smartass. What you did wasn’t cool.”

He pursed his lips, shrugging his shoulders and looking between the pair, “If you ask me, I think the two of you should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you?” Gina asked incredulously, crossing her arms to her chest. “Why the hell should we be thanking you?”

“I don’t know if you two would like my answer to that question just yet.” 

Now Carlos was just sounding insane. What does that even mean?

“Listen, Carlos, whatever you think is going on here is wrong. We’re doing this to get Ricky’s girlfriend back, so would you stop a pest that loves meddling in our business?” 

“I don’t think I can do that… I’m really invested.”

“There’s nothing to be invested in, asshat.” Ricky quipped, earning a small chuckle from Gina.

Carlos rolled his eyes and sighed, “I’m sorry, but the two of you have too much chemistry to be faking it. If I could guess probably everyone else who knows sees it too.”

Ricky thought back to what Big Red had said last night. How come everyone is seeing this but the two of them?

“Dude,” he sighed audibly, “just give it a rest. There’s literally absolutely nothing going on here. We’re just friends.”

Carlos stood there for a moment, looking between the pair that stood across from him. He was studying both of them closely, which was pretty uncomfortable if you’d ask Ricky. 

The boy clearly wasn’t convinced, but raised his hands in defeat, “Fine. I won’t pull anything today. Can’t say I won’t do anything tomorrow… or the next day… or–”

“We get it.” Gina groaned, shaking her head. 

“You’re a menace to society, did you know that?” Ricky asked as Carlos turned towards the zoo entrance. 

“I can’t stand him.” Gina mumbled when Carlos was far enough along. 

Ricky chuckled, “Yeah. There’s no getting rid of him, unfortunately.”

“You sure we can’t just lock him in a cage with one of these tigers?” She pursed her lips, glancing up at Ricky. 

“I’m sure that would solve 99 of our 100 problems.”

Gina shrugged, then after a moment placed her hand in front of Ricky, “Ready to see some monkeys? I know they’re your favorite.”

A small grin played on his lips as he looked back at her. She was glowing. He didn’t know if it was the sunlight or just that she had a natural glow to her, but she was just really pretty. 

He then looked down at her hand that had been sitting in front of him for a moment and he grabbed it, “Come on, pretty girl.”

Gina faltered for a moment at the nickname and Ricky felt his stomach twist—was he not supposed to say that? His worries faded when Gina smiled at him and replied, “Let’s go, pretty boy. We’ve got a lot to see.”

The next few hours consisted of a lot of playful banter and complaining from Ricky about just how bored he was. There were even small touches between the pair whenever they were in sight of Nini and Elias, but they ignored the knowing glances of Carlos.

Though he complained a lot, especially when they reached the monkey exhibit, he had to admit he was having fun. The zoo wasn’t exactly his ideal travel spot, but being there with Gina made the experience a lot better. He found himself not worrying too much about Nini and Elias, although he did catch himself staring a few times. 

Ricky found out that Gina is actually pretty against zoos as a whole; she hated how in most cases there was a lack of space for animals and that the presence of visitors can create stress for these animals. She was very passionate about it too. He thought it was cute – not the animals in captivity thing, the Gina Porter anti-zoo thing. 

The pair had snapped a few pictures of themselves for their social media, the Carlos comments had been to a minimum, they ran into Ashlyn’s group too and they got lunch together before they all split off again. Ricky would say that it was a good day in his book.

But now it was time to head for Prague; a new city and a clean slate for everyone. 

Ricky didn’t know much about Prague, but he was excited. The only thing he really knew about the city was from what he saw from Spider-Man: Far From Home. It was kind of cool. So far, London and Berlin have been great, so for all he knows Prague is great too.

After their class left the Berlin Zoo, they were headed for the train station, where they have a 4 and a half hour train ride ahead of them. Once they arrived at the train station, they all went through their usual protocol.

To say that the Berlin Train Station was big was an understatement; it was almost a shopping mall in and of itself. 

Ricky walked beside Big Red, while Gina and Ashlyn were walking ahead of them. The fake-couple had previously decided to sit with their best friends for the duration of the train ride. 

He loved his best friend, but Ricky couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed to not be sitting with Gina.

As they passed the various souvenir and department stores, something had dawned on Ricky: he had forgotten to buy a certain souvenir from Berlin. He tried to hold back his upset groan as the four of them walked together to their platform. 

After walking for a while, four of them found some seats to rest in while they waited for their train to arrive.

“Hey, Red,” Ricky said, his eyes flickering over to Gina, who was deep in conversation with Ashlyn, before looking back at his best friend, “I’m going to go to the bathroom and then hit the souvenir shop before the train arrives.”

“I thought you got souvenirs yesterday?” Red asked, looking up from his phone.

Ricky bit down on the inside of his cheek, “Uh, yeah, I did. But, I forgot that my dad wanted me to get a… magnet from every city. I can’t let him down, you know?”

“Yeah, definitely can’t let Mike Bowen down.” His best friend agreed skeptically. 

With that, Ricky was off into the crowd, trying to find a souvenir shop that carried what he was looking for. After twenty minutes of looking around a few different stores, his eyes landed on exactly what he needed. 

After making his purchase he went back to his friends, where they all greeted him with a smile. His eyes landed on Gina, who raised her brows, “Find your dad’s magnet?”

Ricky felt heat rise up to his cheeks, “Yup.”

“What’s it of?” Red inquired.

Ricky looked down at the bag in his hand, “It’s a magnet of… the Brandenburg Gate.”

“Huh. Cool.” Big Red nodded his head, a small smile playing at his lips.

“Yeah.” He let out a breathy laugh as he sat back down on his seat, unzipping his backpack and putting the paper bag into it. “Dad’s gonna love it.”

Time passed and their train had finally arrived. Before they all got on, their chaperones went through roll call and then they got on the train. 

Once the passengers were all settled in their seats and their luggage was put away, the train took off towards Prague. 

Gina and Ashlyn sat a few rows behind Ricky and Big Red. His best friend was still occupied by texting his secret-boyfriend and Ricky sighed, “Dude, are you ever going to tell me who this guy is? I’m dying over here.”

“I’m texting my mom right now, if you have to know. And no, I’m never going to tell you. It’s too humiliating.”

“That’s not a way to talk about a guy that you like.”

Big Red, “It’s humiliating how much I like him.”

Ricky smiled, “That’s cute, man.”

He covered his face, “No, it’s actually humiliating. I’m turning into you when you discovered that you liked Nini freshman year all over again!”

He snorted, “That was pretty embarrassing…”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I had to hear about it all day every day for the whole year until you asked her to homecoming.” Red grumbled, turning his phone back on.

Ricky looked out the window, his mind wandering to their conversation earlier, “Hey… what were you saying earlier about you not liking my relationship with Nini?”

“Ugh,” his best friend sighed audibly, “I knew you weren’t going to let this go.”

“Come on,” Ricky turned to him fully, “I won’t take it personally.”

Red paused for a while, before setting his phone back on his lap, “Okay… you and Nini have been friends for, like, forever… so you’re each other’s firsts in every way. It’s just, I think both of you got so attached to each other, then you got into a relationship, you didn’t have time to grow. I think you both relied on the relationship for more reasons than just to be together.” 

Ricky exhaled. 

“And, if you ask me, you’re so hung up on Nini dumping you because she’s always been your constant.”

He frowned. He wanted to be with Nini because he loves her…

“Damn, I sound like Dr. Phil.” Big Red sat back in his seat.

“You just threw it all out there, huh?” Ricky laughed breathily, his frown growing deeper. 

“I’m sorry, dude… I just don’t want you to always rely on her.”

“So what you’re saying is that I shouldn’t get back together with her?”

“No… if that’s what you really want, then yeah, sure go for it. But don’t do it because she’s all you know. You gotta open yourself to more… opportunities.”

Ricky pressed his lips into a thin line and sat back in his seat. He didn’t know that Red felt this way about his relationship… and why would he bring it up today of all days?

As he looked out the train window, his phone vibrated in his lap. It was a message from Gina.

Ashlyn’s already asleep

Big Red’s been texting his boyfriend for the past twenty minutes.

He still hasn’t told you who it was?

Nope. Still not budging.

Hopefully he tells you soon!

Tell me about it.

The two continued texting for a while longer, before Ricky went on Instagram to see what everyone was posting. Once he was on there, he had noticed that Gina had tagged him in a post almost twenty minutes before.

It was a picture of him posing with a monkey statue outside of the monkey habitat from earlier. He was pointing up at the statue and making a silly face. 

She captioned it: I’m bananas for you 🍌💛

He couldn’t help but smile at her caption. It was cute. He commented: And I’m bananas for you!

After commenting on the post, he decided to send Gina a photo through his Instagram dms. He chose a face filter that elongated his face and wrote: Only 4 more hours…

In just a few minutes, Gina responded with a selfie using a filter that enlarged her eyes: I’m already bored.

The two of them continued to send each other photo messages for the next few hours as they counted down the hours to when they would arrive at their destination. With every message, Ricky felt his smile grow wider each time.

Somewhere in the third hour, Ricky had received a notification and he felt excitement bubble in his chest as he thought it was a message from Gina. But, much to his surprise, it wasn’t. Rather, it was a notification telling him that Nini had liked his post from last night.

Instantly, he was taken aback. He hadn’t really interacted with Nini on social media in a while, and neither did she. He thought it was just an unspoken rule not to like each other’s posts. Maybe it was an accident? Should he like one of hers? What does that mean?

As his thoughts overtook him, he stared at the picture he had posted of him and Gina in front of the dinosaur skeleton. Looking at the picture almost made him feel at ease. He wasn’t really sure why though.

With that he shut his phone off and averted his eyes to the window beside him. He had less than an hour until they were in Prague and the last thing he should be worrying about right now is why Nini liked his Instagram post. 

━━━━━━

After gathering at their hotel, checking in, and putting their luggage in their rooms, the chaperones had instructed them to meet with their groups, explore the city a little and grab some dinner.

Ricky and Gina walked down the streets of Prague, their hands intertwined as they gaped at the beautiful scenery around them. 

After walking around for a while, the group of teenagers had decided on a place to eat dinner.

Ricky sat across from Elias, who had his hand comfortably placed on Nini’s knee under the table. He couldn’t help but feel the bitterness on his tongue at the thought of a small but meaningful touch such as a hand on the knee. He averted his eyes down to the menu, where he found one of the safe options to go with for his lunch.

“Too bad they don’t have any chicken fingers, babe. Isn’t that your go-to?” Gina joked, placing her hand on Ricky’s upper bicep.

He glanced over at her, “No,” he mumbled, a small scowl on his face, “usually just a burger.”

Gina shook her head slightly, a small smirk playing on her lips, “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

Ricky couldn’t help but feel his lips quirk up into a small smile as he looked back at Gina, who then looked back down at her menu, which was enough for Ricky to forget that they had an audience of three.

Gina looked up from the menu and over to Nini, “Yesterday, we decided to try all these different types of German foods and I found out that Ricky’s, like, the pickiest eater ever. He hates everything, especially veg–”

“Vegetables.” Nini finished her sentence, a hint of jealousy in her tone. “Yeah, I know.”

“Ricky, why do you have the food palate of a six year old?” Carlos said almost immediately, as a way to clear the air. 

He shrugged uncomfortably, “Just do, I guess.”

Ricky knew that Gina was trying to take a jab at Nini, trying to tug at her heartstrings a little, but he didn’t know that something as meaningless as mentioning Ricky’s a picky eater would set her off like that. He wasn’t even sure if he was happy about it either. 

An uncomfortable silence settled between the five of them. Ricky really didn’t want to look at either Elias or Nini, because who knows what was going on in their minds, so his eyes rested back on his menu. 

Elias cleared his throat as an attempt to clear the air before turning to Gina, “Hey, Gina, I meant to ask you this like a week ago, but how’d you do on AP Chem?”

The curly haired boy raised his eyes from his menu and over to the overly perfect blonde across from him. His brows furrowed slightly as he watched Elias with his eyes on Gina.

“I mean, if you don’t mind me asking, obviously.” He quickly added.

She chuckled lightly in response, “Oh, I don’t mind, I got a 5, actually.”

Ricky hadn’t taken any Advanced Placement classes in high school, but the one thing he did know is that a 5 is the best score you can get (that’s what he heard from Nini, at least). He wouldn’t pin Gina to anything less. 

“You’re kidding!” Elias leaned back in his chair, surprise evident in his voice. 

Ricky glanced over at Gina, who had a small blush creeping on her cheeks. She looked down at the table, somewhat bashfully, before shaking her head, “No, really, I got a 5. What about you, what’d you get?”

And then Ricky started to become somewhat uncomfortable with the two of them interacting. Elias Scott was making Gina blush just by talking to her and Ricky couldn’t help but feel the small burning feeling that was emerging in his chest. 

He shouldn’t care. He should be focusing on the fact that his ex-girlfriend had gotten jealous over his relationship with Gina a few moments ago. 

“Damn, Gina, I got a three. I thought it was literally one of the worst APs I’ve ever taken… I mean, we literally were struggling on our labs all year.”

“Okay, a three is still great!” Gina complimented. “And we didn’t struggle that bad on our labs, Elias… we passed all of them.”

The two of them were allowed to interact. They were literally lab partners in Chemistry this whole school year. So then why did it make Ricky feel so uncomfortable?

“Yeah because you got us through the entire year.” Elias laughed, then turned to the rest of the group, “Gina is insane at chemistry… I don’t know how she does it.”

Ricky attempted to hold back his frown as Elias continued to boast about how good Gina is at chemistry. He quickly rested his hand on top of hers, which was then on the table, and smiled back at her, “You never told me you were a whiz in chem, Gi.”

She glanced down at their hands and a small smile ghosted her lips before looking back up at Ricky, “I’m not one to brag.”

Their eyes stayed on each other for a moment too long, which would be convincing if they really were a couple, but since they’re not… well, that’s a different story. Ever since last night, it felt like something had shifted between them even though they acted as if nothing happened.

Ricky could see the faint freckles that peppered her cheeks and the small crease between her eyebrows as he looked back at her in that moment. Though it was only a few seconds, that one moment seemed to last forever.

“I sucked at chem.” Carlos mentioned, setting his menu on the table, bringing Ricky out of his trance.

“Yeah, same.” Ricky said simply, turning his head to look at the rest of the group. “Literally had a 50 all year but somehow pulled a 90 out of my ass for the final.”

“Because you ditched most of the classes to get high with Red.” Nini said, a small laugh in her voice. Ricky glanced over at her, a bit surprised that she had said something to him.

He laughed lightly, his brows threading together, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“You would’ve probably passed the class with flying colors if you weren’t always getting high with Red, you know?” Gina chimed in, causing Ricky to tear his eyes away from Nini. Gina met him with a small smile.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” He replied, returning her smile.

Her brown eyes lingered on him for a few moments before she returned her eyes back to the table. Ricky’s smile faltered and then he too returned his gaze back to their classmates, where Elias and Nini had been engaging in conversation together.

Soon enough, their waiter returned back to their table to collect their food orders. Everyone rattled off their orders and then their waiter was off in the other direction.

The rest of the dinner consisted of forced small talk as it usually did. Ricky was still on edge about Elias and Gina interacting for some reason and was watching Elias carefully. 

As if the guy couldn’t get more annoying… First, he stole his girlfriend and now he might be in the process of stealing his fake-girlfriend. Ricky couldn’t stand the guy. 

Once dinner ended, the group moved slowly back to their hotel for the night. It was still pretty early, but their class didn’t have anything scheduled for that night. 

After they stopped in some shops along the way back, they all made it to their hotel and went their separate ways. Ricky and Gina, who had been holding hands the entire way back, had simultaneously dropped their hands on the elevator. 

The elevator hit Gina’s floor first and she turned back to him, “I’ll see you later?”

His brows raised in slight confusion, not knowing that they had plans for later, but he nodded anyway, “Yeah, see you later.”

━━━━━━

Ricky had been sitting in his hotel room alone for the past half hour, waiting for Big Red to return from getting dinner with his group. He passed the time by scrolling through his Instagram and texting his dad all the photos from the past day. 

Just as he was in the middle of texting his best friend to ask his whereabouts, their hotel door opened rather aggressively, causing Ricky to jump.

“Dude!” Big Red ran into their hotel room urgently, where he had been laying on his bed.

He turned his head to look at his best friend, his brows raised, “What? Are you out of breath? Why are you out of breath?”

“Yes, I’m out of breath! I took the stairs!”

“Why the hell did you take the stairs?” He asked incredulously. 

“Because Ashlyn just told me something kind of important, well at least you would think it’s important, so obviously I needed to get here quick and there was a line for the elevators so here I am!” Big Red said all in one breath.

Ricky sat up, “Uh, okay, what did she tell you?”

“Well, you know how you and Gina kissed last night right? Ashlyn and I were talking about it–”

“Why were you guys talking about it?”

“Dude, does it matter?”

“I think it does matter, Red! What were you saying about us?”

Big Red groaned, “That’s not important right now, Richard!”

“What’s so important then?” He ignored the use of his government name.

“You were Gina’s first kiss!”

“What?” Ricky’s mouth hung open in surprise.

“You. Were. Gina’s. First. Kiss.”

His eyes widened, “Holy shit.”

“That had to be why she was acting so weird after it happened, right?” Big Red asked Ricky, while he was still processing this information.

“Shit, shit! Aren’t first kisses like a big deal? Oh my God, what if it was a bad kiss and that’s all she’ll remember about her first kiss?”

“Well was it bad?”

“No. Not at all, actually it was pretty good—I mean that’s beside the point, it just seemed like she knew what she was doing so I didn’t even suspect that it could be her first!”

He really didn’t know how to feel about this newfound information. On one end, he felt horrible that the kiss they shared in front of their peers had to be Gina’s first kiss. They were forced into it and it probably wasn’t the special first kiss that Gina may or may not have dreamed of her whole life. 

But on the other hand, it gave Ricky a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach that he got to be Gina’s first kiss. He was the first person to kiss her lips, and for some reason it gave him that ever-so familiar warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

“Dude, I feel like shit. It’s all Carlos’ fault that I was Gina’s first kiss.”

“Ashlyn said she wasn’t that upset over it being you.”

Ricky’s head snapped over to his best friend, “She wasn’t that upset over it being me?”

“Well, she did say something about her saying how weird it was but she was just worried that it was going to make things weird between the two of you. Kind of like how you reacted.”

Nice to know he wasn’t the one overthinking it. He bit down on his lip, “I really feel bad.”

“Dude, don’t. If it really bothered her then she probably would’ve put a stop to it.”

Ricky frowned, “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Their conversation then took a turn to Big Red’s fascination with Prague. He was going on and on about all the research he had previously done on the city and rambled on about how excited he was to explore the city more.

Ricky pretended to listen to his best friend, but somewhere along the way had tuned him out. His thoughts took over and suddenly he was back to thinking about Gina again. There was just so much to think about… their kiss, that Ricky was her first kiss, the fact that he didn’t want Gina to be talking to Elias… 

Why does he care so much? Their kiss was all for show, to convince people that they were together and like he said earlier, he shouldn’t care about Gina and Elias so much. 

He mumbled incoherent responses to his best friend, who was still lecturing Ricky on the history of Prague. The curly haired boy grabbed his phone to check the time. It was only 8:44.

He sighed and fell back onto the bed, still listening to Big Red. 

Soon their one-sided conversation had turned into a two-sided conversation about them missing getting high and how it’s been six days too long. The two of them talked for almost an hour until their conversation died out and the pair returned to their phones.

As Ricky was in the middle of a round of Fortnite on his phone, there was a soft knock at their door. 

Big Red glanced over at Ricky, mumbling, “You get it.”

He glared back at the redhead, got off the bed and headed for their door.  

Ricky swung the door open, and much to his surprise, stood Gina, who was now dressed in a black floral spring dress. Her curls fell freely down to her shoulders, and Ricky was definitely taken aback. She looked… beautiful. 

She stood there for a moment, eyebrows raised, before letting out a small laugh, “Hi.”

“Hi?” Ricky responded, letting out a deep breath, “What are you doing here?”

Her brows knitted together, “Red didn’t tell you? Him and Ashlyn apparently came up with this grand idea earlier that we were all going to go to a club.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard about it actually.” 

“Surprise.” Gina said softly.

Ricky rolled his eyes, turning away from the door, “Yo, Red, why didn’t you tell me we were going out tonight? Oh, did it slip your mind because all you’ve been doing is texting mystery boy for the past hour?”

“Oh, shit! I didn’t even realize what time it was.” Big Red jumped out of his bed, tripping over one of the covers. “Hi, Gina.”

“Hey.” She responded, a small laugh escaping her lips. 

Ricky turned to her, looking out into the hallway, “Where’s Ashlyn?”

“She went down to the lobby to see if any of the chaperones happen to be staked out because of our incident the other night.”

“Yeah. Good call.” Ricky fiddled with the door handle, not really knowing what to say. She looked really pretty and he couldn’t look away from her. 

She looked back at him with a small smile on her lips while she fiddled with the charm bracelet that was always present on her wrist. 

“Dude, are you going to change?” Big Red called from their room causing Ricky to break their eye contact. 

He looked down at his outfit, the same outfit that he had been wearing earlier. His cheeks burned slightly as he looked back at Gina, who was also looking down at his outfit. “I, uh, I should change.”

She chuckled, “Maybe.”

With that Ricky turned around and ventured into his room, then stopped when he realized she was still standing in the doorway. “You can come in, Porter. We don’t bite.”

She rolled her eyes as she walked further into their room, “You sure you don’t?”

Ricky chuckled, shaking his head, then started rummaging through his suitcase for a new shirt to wear. Once he settled on a red t-shirt that wasn’t too wrinkly, he headed straight for the bathroom to change. 

Once he changed into his shirt, he stared in the mirror for a few moments too long, examining his appearance. He frowned upon seeing his hair - it was sticking up in all different directions. After fixing it for a minute, he tamed it the best as he could.

He looked around the bathroom for a minute and his eyes settled on the bottle of cologne that was sitting on the counter. It was Big Red’s. He brought the bottle up to his nose and smelled it; it smelled like a citrus-y scent.

He lifted his shirt to his nose and inhaled as an attempt to see if it smelled good. He frowned. It just smelled clean. Is that attractive? Wait-why does he want to know that?

Ricky really isn’t the type to wear cologne ever but he started spraying the liquid anyway. He tried not to drench himself in it, but just enough for him to smell decent. 

He quickly set the bottle down on the counter and exited the bathroom, clapping his hands together, “Alright, who’s ready?”

The group of four had successfully snuck out of the hotel seemingly with no problems. The walk to the club that Big Red and Ashlyn had picked out was a ten minute walk from their hotel and when they arrived, they were all surprised of how easy it was getting in because they are all of-age.

Upon entering the lively club, they were hit with the loudness of the dance music that they were playing. The club was on the smaller side and was illuminated with bright neon lights.

“Oh, we have to dance!” Gina said over the music, pointing to the dance floor.

“No way am I dancing!” Ricky shook his head. “I can’t dance for shit.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” She nudged him.

Ricky threw his head back, shaking his head, “Nope! Not happening. I’ll be at the bar!” 

“Oh yeah, I need a drink.” Big Red agreed, starting to head for the bar.

“Seriously?” Gina frowned slightly, crossing her arms.

Ashlyn put her hand on her shoulder, “Let’s go get drinks and then I will dance with you, Gi.”

Once they reached the bar and ordered whatever they could get their hands on, Gina turned to Ricky, “Like it or not, Bowen, but by the end of the night you’ll be dancing on that dance floor.”

He rolled his eyes, a smile playing on his lips, “Okay, we’ll see about that!”

Gina took a small sip of her drink and grimaced. She turned to Ashlyn and tugged on her arm, “Come on, Ash, let’s go dance.”

And so the girls went over to the dance floor and started to dance to whatever God-awful EDM song was now playing. Ricky turned to Big Red, who was then looking down at his phone.

“This guy doesn’t have a life does he? He’s always texting you.” Ricky teased with a smirk in his voice.

“Oh shut up. You’re the one who’s spending your trip to Europe trying to get Nini back.”

“Yeah because both you and Howie convinced me to! It’s a two way street, buddy.”

Big Red pressed his lips in a line, staring at the dance floor for a moment, “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

Ricky watched as he looked down at his phone again, as if he was waiting for a text back from that guy. He held his hand out and his best friend looked over at him incredulously, “Huh?”

“Give me your phone.”

“Dude! No fucking way!”

Ricky groaned, “Dude. I’m not going to look at it, I swear. It’s just you’re in Prague, at a club, with your friends and you’re waiting on a text from a guy who’s all the way back in Salt Lake. Let loose.”

Big Red pondered his options for a moment before ultimately setting his phone in his best friend’s hand, “Don’t you dare look at it or no weed when we get back home.”

Ricky put his hands up in surrender, “You got it.”

The redhead jumped out of his seat and looked back at him, “You coming?”

Ricky shrugged as he shoved Big Red’s phone in his back pocket, “Nah. I’m not in the mood to embarrass myself just yet… Maybe in a bit.”

“Alright.” Red nodded before heading over to where Ashlyn and Gina danced on the dance floor. 

Ricky watched them all dance for a few moments and took a sip of his beer. He really didn’t drink all that often, but when he did, it was whatever he and Red could scramble together from their parents' liquor collections. 

“You’re definitely not from around here,” said the man in the chair next to Ricky. He was at least 5 or 6 years older than him, and seemed to have what sounded like a British accent. 

Ricky raised his brows, “Seems to me you’re not either.”

“That is true.” The stranger laughed, taking a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage was in his cup. “But, you my friend, look a little lost.”

Ricky pressed his lips in a thin line, then laughed lightly, “Yeah, it’s that obvious?”

“Hell yeah. You from the states?”

He nodded, “Yeah—Utah.”

“What brings you to Prague?”

What is with this dude and asking so many questions? Must be pretty lonely if he’s talking to a random teenage boy in a bar, Ricky thought to himself. 

“School trip.” He replied simply, really not in the mood to be conversing with an intoxicated stranger. He moved his eyes to the crowd of people on the dance floor, his gaze settling on Gina, who was still dancing with her two best friends and Big Red. She looked so in her element.

And then Ricky’s mind wandered back to the fact that he got to be her first kiss and then his stomach filled with that familiar warmness. 

While the annoyingly intrusive stranger went on and on about his high school and college days, Ricky focused his attention on the dance floor.

He wished he could dance and be close to all of them, but rather he was sitting at the bar, pretending to listen to this complete stranger. But as he sat there, his fingers tracing the small rip in his jeans while watching her dance, a small smile crept on his lips. 

“Who’s she?” 

Ricky tore his eyes away from her and looked at the guy, “Who’s who?”

“The girl you’re staring at. Ya like her?”

“What? No!” Ricky said quickly, then swallowed. “No… She’s just a friend.”

The stranger nodded his head slowly, “Ah.”

“It’s really nothing.” He assured him, suddenly feeling the need to defend himself to the stranger. “See, my girlfriend broke up with me a month ago and I’m in the process of getting her back.”

“So where is this ex-girlfriend of yours? Is she on this trip?”

He nodded, “Yeah, uh, but she’s probably with her boyfriend right now.”

“Oh, how intriguing your life is.”

Ricky scoffed, “Trust me—it’s nothing special.”

“Well, it seems your love life is pretty interesting, buddy. You’re here in Prague with a girl, who’s just a friend, while you are in the process of getting back with your ex, who now has a new boyfriend.”

Ricky frowned. He wanted to push this guy off his seat. He didn’t know half the story.

“It’s…” he trailed, “all sorts of complicated.”

“Feelings are complicated.” The stranger agreed, taking a sip of his drink. 

Ricky bit down on his lip as he stared back into the crowd of moving bodies, fixating his gaze on Gina once again. “Yeah…” he agreed quietly, before furrowing his brows and turning back to the stranger. “I think I’m going to try and dance with my friends… you’re only in Prague… once.”

The man laughed, a small chuckle escaping his lips, “Yeah, okay.”

“It was nice meeting you.” Ricky forced out as he hopped off the stool he had been sitting in. He turned and grabbed the drink, downing the rest of his it before starting for the dance floor. 

“Word of advice?” The stranger placed his hand on Ricky’s shoulder, stopping the teenage boy in his tracks.

Ricky glanced back at him skeptically, his brows raised. 

The elder continued, “Trust me, mate, I wouldn’t dwell on your last relationship and where it all went wrong… I’ve spent a lot of my days doing the same thing, and it sucks, but one day you’re gonna find somebody that will make you realize just why it didn’t work out with that ex of yours.”

Ricky paused for a moment as he took in the words of the stranger. He nodded his head slowly before sending him a small but awkward smile, “Yeah… yeah, uh, thanks.”

What was this dude trying to say? That he shouldn’t be putting all his time into getting his girl back? That he’s wasting his time and that it won’t be worth it? 

After the man nodded his head, Ricky made his way towards the crowd and pushed all his negative thoughts out the window. Once he reached his friends, the three of them greeted him with open arms.

Gina laughed and leaned in, “I told you that you’d be dancing by the end of the night. I’m always-”

“You’re always right.” He said over her and the music. She glanced up at him, a small smile playing on her lips, as she started to dance again.

Ricky stood there uncomfortably, not really knowing how to move to the music. He really wasn’t one to dance, like, ever. He was one of those guys that just bopped his head to the beat - just like he was doing now.

“What are you doing?” Ashlyn laughed.

“Ricky sucks at dancing!” Big Red replied breathlessly over the music.

Ricky groaned.

“Here,” Gina rested her hand on his shoulder, “just move your body to the beat. Don’t overthink it, Bowen, the world isn’t watching.”

Yeah, but you are.

With Gina’s eyes on him, Ricky swallowed nervously and started to move his body to the beat of the song as best as he could. It definitely wasn’t pretty but it was something.

“See!” Gina smiled encouragingly. “It’s not that hard! Just keep going, be confident.”

And so Ricky let the glass of alcohol that he had just downed take over and allow him to loosen up. He got in the groove of things and realized that dancing really wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was kind of fun.

So for the next two hours, Ricky and his friends danced until they felt like they were going to pass out. He had taken breaks to get a drink or two, but he was having a blast with them… with Gina. 

The whole night, he kept stealing glances towards her. She made the dancing thing seem so effortless and beautiful, even if she was dancing to some horrid club music. 

After the group of four teenagers had decided that their first experience at a club should be over, they headed back to their hotel. 

It was around 12:30 in the morning when they arrived back at their hotel and they didn’t even try to sneak back in considering how tired they were. On their way into the lobby, they were met with two familiar faces.

Nini and Elias.

Ricky had immediately slipped his hand into Gina’s when he saw the two of them. They were wearing sweats and were laughing at something in unison.

Their laughter faded when they realized their classmates had just “snuck” back into the hotel.

“Hey…” Nini had said skeptically, her eyes falling on Ricky. He swallowed uncomfortably under her gaze.

“Hey.” He replied with a small nod.

The room had immediately filled with a massive load of tension, much more than it usually did as Elias pulled Nini into him. What is up with that guy?

“Um, hey Red,” Ashlyn said slowly, looking between the two couples. “Want to go get that thing from my room you were talking about… earlier?”

“Yes, Ashlyn, let’s go get that… thing.” And with that, the two redheads bee-lined straight for the elevators, leaving the four to talk.

“So,” Elias broke the silence first, “where have you two been?”

Gina leaned into Ricky, “We went to a club, actually. What are you guys doing? Your outfits look… cute.”

Ricky watched as Nini sent a subtle glare towards Gina, which he didn’t like at all. Nini plastered that fake-but-sweet smile on her face, “Sounds like fun! We were actually just watching a movie in my room since Kourt is with EJ right now.”

“Huh. Sounds like fun.” Gina replied, mimicking Nini’s words with the same amount of fake-ness.

Ricky’s eyes moved up to Elias, who was looking right back at him. He quickly looked away and down at Gina, “We should get going, actually, babe.”

She looked back up at him, “Yeah. Night, guys.”

The two mumbled responses in return as Ricky and Gina left them standing in the middle of the lobby. Gina was still leaning into him slightly while their hands were still intertwined. 

As they were nearing the elevator, Gina stopped in her tracks, dropping Ricky’s hand, “Are you wearing cologne?” She asked out of nowhere, looking up at him through her lashes.

Ricky’s lips parted and he felt heat rise up to his face, “Uh, yeah, actually… You noticed?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, “I mean, I don’t remember ever smelling it on you before.”

He pursed his lips, “Uh, it’s only for special occasions, I guess.”

“Huh.” She hummed. After a moment she continued, “I don’t think you don’t need it though.”

Ricky’s lips curved up into a smile as he looked back at her. Maybe it was because it was late or the way she looked under the dim hotel lighting, but he was again reminded just how beautiful Gina was in that single moment.

He didn’t know if it was the alcohol still buzzing in his system, the fact that Nini was watching, or that nagging feeling that he wanted to be close to Gina for some reason unbeknownst to him – maybe it was all three of those things, but without thinking he leaned over and planted a kiss on Gina’s cheek. Though it was rather chaste and lasted all of two seconds, Ricky’s stomach filled with butterflies. 

When their eyes met, it felt exactly like the night prior, like something was there in the air, like everything had shifted once again. 

His lips curved upward into a small smile seeing that her lips had parted in surprise and he could have sworn there was a blush emerging on her cheeks. They stood there for a moment too long, eyes connected, until Ricky’s eyes traveled across the lobby to where Nini and Elias stood.

As soon as his gaze met Nini’s familiar brown eyes, she looked away and began engaging in conversation with her boyfriend. Then he heard Gina clear her throat, pulling his attention away from his ex-girlfriend.

“We should get to bed.” Gina said abruptly as she started walking towards the elevators and, at least to Ricky, it seemed that she was avoiding his eyes. 

Ricky rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, before nodding his head in agreement, “Yeah.”

As they silently entered the elevator, Ricky felt like there had been a sudden change in energy between the two of them. Gina almost felt distant even if she was just a foot away from her. 

Was he not supposed to kiss her on the cheek? Was that crossing the line? Really, what is considered crossing the line now since they’ve already kissed?

Ricky shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels as the elevator started to move. He turned his head slightly so that he could see her out of his peripheral. She was fiddling her fingers.

He pursed his lips as the doors opened to her floor. She turned to him with a small shrug, as if she were saying that he didn’t need to walk her to her door. 

As Gina made her way out the door, Ricky sighed audibly, “Hey, Gina–”

She turned back to look at him, stopping in front of the doors, “Yeah?”

“Are we… are we okay?”

She paused for a moment and that unexplainable tension filled the air again, before she nodded, “Of course we are, Bowen.”

Though her words said they were, he didn’t feel like they actually were okay. Maybe he was overthinking it – he had to be overthinking it because why wouldn’t they be okay? 

So he nodded his head anyway and Gina was off to her room without another word. The doors closed and the elevator brought him up to his floor. 

Once he was on his floor, the curly haired boy slowly walked down the hallway with his Gina-related thoughts clouding his mind. 

As he approached his room, Ricky felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reached for it and instantly grinned at what he read. Maybe she was reading his mind. 

Night, honey pot :)

Sleep tight, honey butter biscuit ❤️

Chapter Text

“You’re struggling to stay awake, aren’t you?” Gina said, poking the boy who sat in the seat next to her. 

He glanced over to her lazily, holding his arms closer to his chest, and mumbled, “ No .”

A smile crept onto her lips, “What time did you stay up this time?”

“Well, we didn’t get back until, like, 12:30 and then I just couldn’t fall asleep for a while. My body usually sleeps until noon, Porter, I’m not made to get up at seven in the morning every day.” Ricky groaned. “Plus, I miss my bed.”

She watched him as he rested his head back onto the headrest and shut his eyes closed. They were currently on their way to the Old Town Square in Prague, where all of the groups will be let off to explore the city for the day. 

“Lucky for you, we only have three more days then you’ll be able to sleep in your own bed all you want and sleep for more than just six hours.” Gina reminded him.

She felt a small feeling of disappointment rise in her chest as she thought about their trip coming to an end in just three days. They still had so much to see, so much to do in those three days, yet Gina couldn’t help but feel dismay with it. 

“Wrong.” Ricky said after a few moments, peaking his eyes open. She glanced over to him, her brows raised. He continued, “When we get back, we have to go right back to school. No sleeping in for this guy.”

A laugh bubbled in her chest, “Well then this guy needs to go to sleep early. Maybe even set a bedtime.”

“A bedtime? I’m not a child.” 

“Your taste in food says otherwise.” 

“Still not a child.”

“You’re obsessed with dinosaurs.”

“I’m a man who happens to be a picky eater and loves dinosaurs.”

Gina snorted, “A man? Hardly.”

“I’m a man!” Ricky sat up, his voice raising slightly, receiving glances from their classmates. “I do manly things… and have manly qualities.”

She stared back at him, a glint of amusement in her eyes, “Okay… whatever helps you sleep at night, Bowen.”

The boy gaped at her in disbelief, clearly not being able to come up with a good enough comeback. He huffed in response, crossed his arms to his chest and sat back in his seat with a frown on his lips.

It wasn’t long until the tour group arrived in the heart of Prague, Old Town Square. Before piling off of the bus, their chaperones called off everyone’s names and told them their objectives for the day. The usual: Stay together, don’t leave the city, meet back around 9pm, and don’t do anything illegal.

As they were heading off the bus, Gina slipped her hand into Ricky’s and ignored the burning she felt from the contact. 

He glanced down at their hands and then looked back at her, his eyes lingering on her for a moment before turning his attention back to exiting the bus.

As they gathered with their group, Gina almost immediately felt the animosity coming off of Nini. Though it may not have been noticeable to the rest of the group, she certainly noticed the slight dirty look on Nini’s face once she saw their intertwined hands. 

Gina pressed her lips into a thin line as an attempt not to let a laugh escape her lips. Nini really hated to see Ricky with someone else. 

She then turned her attention away from Nini over to Ricky, who was having some half-assed conversation with Carlos, and her gaze rested on him, causing her to really look at him. She noticed how he had a small crease between his brow while he listened to Carlos and just how his jaw clenched as he held back a snarky comment. But something that really stuck out to her was the fact that his brown eyes looked a bit lighter, and were now more of a golden color, under the morning sunlight. 

Looking at his now golden eyes brought Gina back to the night prior when Ricky had kissed her on the cheek. She remembered looking into his brown eyes in surprise after it had happened, causing an immense amount of butterflies to erupt in her stomach as she gazed back at him. The moment felt so intimate, it felt so private, it felt so... real.   

Until Ricky had looked across the room at Nini. 

It had snapped Gina back to reality. Somehow, for some reason unbeknownst to her, it had disappointed her that a moment like that wasn’t actually real.

Before her mind could wander any further, her gaze was caught by those familiar golden eyes. His brow was furrowed slightly in confusion, but after a few moments the scowl on his face was replaced by a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

He caught her staring red-handed and she couldn’t even find it in herself to look away from him. Gina could feel the blush emerging on her cheeks, while the smile on his lips turned ever-so slightly into a smirk, as if he were saying “gotcha.”

Carlos cleared his throat suddenly, causing the pair to break their eye contact, “Were you two even listening?”

Gina’s eyes traveled over to Nini and Elias, who were standing across from them, both with expressions of confusion displayed on their faces. Well, actually, Nini’s was more of an annoyed expression. 

Ricky chuckled lowly, “Sorry, Carlos, I was just distracted by how beautiful Gina looks today.”

Her lips parted. Carlos furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slowly, “Right. Do you think you can do that later, though? When you don’t have an audience?”

“Sure thing, buddy.” He responded, his lips curling into a sarcastic smile.

Carlos had pressed his lips into a thin line as a way to prevent himself from saying some snotty remark, before letting out a small sigh, “We were saying that we should probably get some food before we start walking around the city.”

“I’m game. What about you, babe?” He responded, turning to look at the girl beside him. She looked back at him and shrugged, turning back to the rest of the group.

“Yeah. That sounds great.” She agreed. She felt those golden eyes lingering on her for a moment, and she was sure that he could see the prominent blush that still flamed her cheeks. 

“Alrighty, let's get going!” Elias grinned happily, swinging his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. He seemed to be in a better mood towards Ricky today, Gina thought to herself. 

The group of five headed away from their classmates and further into the square. Nini and Elias led the group, followed closely by the rest of the three. 

The square was crowded with tourists from all over the world, who were all taking in the sights. Around them, there were beautifully mysterious buildings that could never be found in a place like Salt Lake City, at one end there was a large castle-looking church accompanied by a palace to its left, and at the other there was a tall clock tower. As if the square could get any more charming, there was a memorial statue of some sort in the center of it.

“Oh shit, hold up, isn’t this where Night Monkey fought off the elementals?” Ricky had said suddenly, his head snapping around the square. He looked way too excited about this. Whatever this meant. It was cute.

“Where who fought what? ” Carlos turned to him, his voice dripping with small judgement.

“From the newest Spider-Man movie?” Ricky responded, his eyes still scanning the square. When Carlos didn’t respond, his head turned in his direction, “Which you’ve seen… right, Carlos?”

Gina pressed her lips in a thin line as an attempt to hold in the laugh that was bubbling in her chest.

“Why would I even think to watch a Spider-Man movie?” The other boy replied, acting as if he was offended.

“Why wouldn’t you think to watch it?” He turned to Gina, “Porter, you’ve seen Spider-Man: Far From Home, right? Please tell me you have!” 

His pleading puppy-dog eyes almost made her want to lie and say that she had seen the movie, but she decided against it, shaking her head, “Sorry, honey pot, I can’t say I’ve seen it.”

“Are you kidding? You knew all the Marvel characters the other day at the wax museum!”

“That doesn’t mean I keep up on every Marvel movie, Bowen. They’re just not my type of movie.” Gina shrugged in response.

Ricky groaned audibly, receiving glances from fellow tourists around them, “Okay, yup, adding it to the list!”

“You two have a list? What list?” Carlos budded in, quickly looking ahead to see if Nini and Elias were far enough away from them, then he looked back.

“What’s it to you?” She asked, a slight annoyance in her voice.

“I’m curious. Can’t a boy be curious?”

“We have a list of things we’re going to do when we get back home. Mostly things Gina hasn’t done.” Ricky told him and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice, even though she wasn’t looking at him. 

Before she could turn and respond again, Carlos opened his mouth, “Ahhh, like a date? ”

“God, no!” Ricky sputtered out quickly. “Hanging out as friends. Maybe you should hang out with your friends instead of being up in our business.”

“I’d very much rather be with my friends right now, but unfortunately I’m stuck here with you two. And as you know, I have to find some sort of entertainment hence my–”

“Carlos, is it your mission to make us hate you?” Gina asked, tearing her eyes away from the monument in the middle of the square back over to Carlos.

“All I’m saying is that it doesn’t sound like something that just friends plan. And if your plan to woo your ex-girlfriend works by then, how exactly are you going to explain it to her?”

Gina was starting to think that Carlos was more invested in her and Ricky’s fake relationship than he was in his own life. She glanced over to Ricky, who looked more than irritated with the other boy. He sighed, “We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

Their conversation dwindled from being about Ricky and Gina’s relationship to places they could potentially stop and eat at. Nini and her boyfriend were a ways away from them, which for some reason annoyed Gina. Not because she particularly wanted to be around them, but because they didn’t care to stay with the group. 

As they strolled around the square, Ricky took it upon himself to swing their intertwined hands back and forth, which resulted in skeptical glances from their rather unfortunate “third wheel.” 

After about ten minutes, their whole group had decided on a restaurant with a modest menu that didn’t look too intimidating for a few teens from the US. They were sat fairly quickly and all immersed themselves in the menu to avoid the inevitable small talk they usually go through.

Once they all ordered, the inevitable small talk began. It was mostly the usual: complaining about how their trip was going by so fast, discussing how beautiful Prague is, and sharing their excitement for Paris. But the conversation fell just as fast as it started up and so they sat in an uncomfortable silence.

Ricky and Gina had their hands firmly intertwined under the table while everyone tried to avoid eye contact. Carlos was now on his phone, Elias was reading a plaque on the wall, Nini was looking out the window as the fake couple tapped each other’s foot every now and then. Ricky started it.

Carlos set his phone on the table once he took notice of Ricky and Gina’s playful game of footsie. And eventually, Nini took notice of it too.

Gina could see the heat rising to her cheeks as she rested her head in the palm of her hand as an attempt to cover the blush apparent on her face. Her eyes narrowed her eyes at them, though she was trying not to make it obvious. 

“So, Neens,” Elias had said to Nini, snapping her out of her fit of jealousy, “I was thinking we should probably visit the castle first and get it out of the way.”

“Oh yeah, that sounds fun.” The brunette replied, moving her eyes away from Ricky and Gina.

The blonde nodded his head and turned to the rest of the group, “Do you guys want to head to the castle with us?”

At the same moment she glanced at him, Ricky glanced at her as if he were asking if she wanted to. Truthfully, Gina would like to see the castle but was the castle visit really worth spending time with Elias and Nini?

“ Actually, ” Ricky started, his eyes lingering on Gina for a moment before turning to the rest of the group, “Gi and I were planning on doing… that thing. ”

Gi. She didn’t know why, but she liked the way it rolled off his tongue. It was… nice. She disregarded it quickly, her brows furrowing slightly, “That thing?”

“Yeah. That thing. With the locks on the bridge… Remember?” His eyes said “just go with it.”

“Oh yeah!” She exclaimed, plastering a grin on her lips. “I completely forgot about that.”

“What…” Nini started. “What are the locks on the bridge?”

Gina looked over to Ricky, her grin turning into a knowing smirk, “You tell them, babe, it was your idea!”

He did not look happy in the slightest as he turned to the rest of the group. After a moment, he pulled his phone out and started typing on it. 

“Here it is,” he said finally, showing his phone to the rest of the group. Gina glanced at him skeptically, wondering what the hell he had just pulled up on his phone. He continued, “It’s a random bridge in Malá Strana and couples from all over the world leave locks which symbolize their love.”

Elias looked impressed, Nini looked slightly irritated, while Carlos looked like he could fall off his chair. He looked between the two, “That’s sickeningly adorable.”

“It was all Ricky’s idea.” Gina smiled, leaning into the boy next to her and resting her head on his shoulder. “Who knew he could be such a romantic.”

Her brown eyes flicked to Nini, who was already staring her down. Gina looked away, pursing her lips as Ricky chuckled underneath her, “I don’t have a romantic bone in my body.”

“Clearly you do.” Carlos hummed happily.

“That sounds really cute, man.” Elias finally said. Gina began to wonder if the water polo player wished he came up with it himself. 

“Yeah!” Nini had joined into the conversation, a strained laugh escaping her lips. “That’s cute… just so cute.”

Elias’ blue eyes narrowed down at his girlfriend for a few moments, a slight frown forming on his lips. Gina almost felt bad for him. Nini was clearly more interested in, or perhaps bothered by, her ex-boyfriend’s relationship than her own current one and that really wasn’t fair. 

The blonde looked away, redness evident on his cheeks, “So, that’s a no… right?”

Gina nodded her head, her eyes flicking to Nini, “Yup.”

“What about you, Carlos? Do you want to come with us or go with them?” Elias turned his attention towards the black haired boy. 

Her eyes moved to Carlos, who was already glancing towards the two of them. There was a ghost of a smirk on his face, “Nah, I think that I’ll go to the castle and let the two of them find the love bridge… I don’t want to be a third wheel for their date. ”

God, this kid really is a menace.

“Carlos, you’re totally welcome to come with us.” Gina said, putting the fakest smile on her lips. 

“Yeah, dude, we don’t mind. You wouldn’t be a third wheel at all. ” Ricky chimed in.

They were both lying through their teeth. They would be absolutely miserable if Carlos was there, but he was trying so hard to prove that they’re more than friends.

“No. I’m good. I’ll go see the palace.”

“Alright.” Elias said, nodding his head. “I think the palace is in the Malá Strana district so we can all walk that way together.”

“Cool.” Ricky replied.

And then they fell into another silence. After a while, Nini and Elias were engaging in conversation. Something about something Nini’s moms texted her earlier… but Gina really didn’t care to listen.

She did notice, though, that Ricky would steal glances across the table at Nini. It was subtle, but enough to gain Gina’s attention. It shouldn’t bother her, it really shouldn’t, because she’s the reason they’re fake dating in the first place.

Shortly after, their food arrived at their table and they all immersed themselves in their meals. And then somewhere in there, the topic of college was brought up into the mix. Gina learned that Carlos was going to a school in Los Angeles, where he would be pursuing both theater and dance, while Elias was attending Stanford and playing soccer (which, really wasn’t a surprise).

Nini was going to the University of Denver for acting, which had Gina a bit thrown, because did anyone else see her acting in the musical? Anyway…

After Ricky told the group that he was staying in their hometown with a rather coy smile, he eagerly turned the group’s attention to Gina, “Let’s talk about this girl over here… she’s headed for New York!”

“New York?” Nini gaped, turning her attention to the girl across from her. 

“Yeah.”

“Where are you going? What school?” Elias asked curiously.

“It’s called Marymount Manhattan… They have a great dance program. I’m planning on minoring in something but I’m undecided in that realm as of right now.” Gina shrugged slightly.

“That’s really cool, Gina.” Elias smiled over at her. She returned the gesture and for a second she thought she felt Ricky tense slightly beside her, but ignored it. 

“Dance… don’t a lot of people go to New York to pursue dance?” Nini asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah. They do.” Gina said curtly, kind of put off by the girl’s question. What was that supposed to mean?

“It’s just, you’ll probably have a lot of competition in the big city. Kind of scary, right?”

What, and you won’t have competition in Denver? She bit her tongue. 

“Gina can handle it.” Ricky said suddenly in a disapproving tone. Gina watched as a small frown appeared on Nini’s lips and then she looked down at her plate of food. 

“Right, so who’s excited for Paris?” Carlos chimed in, trying to put an ease to the tension that popped up in the air even though they already talked about the city of lights.

Gina really didn’t know what Nini’s deal was. She knew half of it was because she was “dating” Ricky, but the other half? Even before this trip, Nini had always come off as passive aggressive and unfriendly towards Gina. Not that she tried to be her friend, and she might’ve slipped some discouraging comments to her before auditions, but she really hadn’t done anything to Nini to receive this treatment. 

Who knows, maybe this girl is a real sweetheart, but from what Gina could gather she’s quite the bitch. Seriously, what did Ricky see in her? That question swirled in her thoughts more times than she’d like to admit.

The rest of their lunch dragged by slowly, filled with unwanted and forced small talk like they usually did to avoid the tension that still loomed in the air. After another half hour, the group of five were finally done with their meals and then headed out the door to their next destinations.

Nini and Elias had somehow acquired a map of the city and the rest followed their directions as they walked down the streets of Prague. 

The city was magical and looked like it was something straight out of a movie. Gina couldn’t get enough of it.

She and Ricky had their hands firmly intertwined as they strolled, with Carlos following close on their heels. It wasn’t a long walk to Prague’s Malá Strana district from Old Town; it was just over the infamous Charles Bridge (which the group had to stop and take pictures together on).

Once they crossed the bridge and found themselves in the right place, the group of teenagers halted. Ricky and Gina decided that they would meet back with their peers once their tour of the castle was done with, which gave them about an hour to roam the streets. 

After they all bid their goodbyes and went in different directions, Gina turned to Ricky, who currently had his head in his phone, “So… what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to find our bridge… with those love lock thingys on it.” 

“Wait—you were serious about doing that? I thought you made it up?”

“Nope. It’s one hundred percent real and we are one hundred percent going to do it. Now we have to turn right up here.” He told her, pointing up the block to where the street ends as he read the directions off his phone.

“Shouldn't we do something else? Like go shopping or something? Don’t you have to get your dad a magnet from every city?” 

He looked down at her, his lips turning up into a slight grin, “Yeah… you remember that? But, shopping can wait, Porter. This, ” He said pointing down at the google search on his phone, “is totally the type of cheesy shit they do in the romantic movies! We have to do it.”

“That’s the thing, though, we’re not the main characters in a romantic comedy.” She reminded him, following him on his heels as he followed the GPS on his phone.

“A boy can dream! Come on, Porter, we’ll be there in five minutes.”

So, she shut her mouth and followed him all the way there. On the way, the pair passed various Czech shops, restaurants, street vendors and businesses. Gina was in awe of this city and how beautiful everything truly was; from the cobblestone roads in which they walked on to the intricately designed colorful buildings all around them.

And within a few minutes, they arrived at the small pedestrian bridge which was completely covered in padlocks from head to toe. 

“Tadaaa!” Ricky exclaimed, a large grin on his face as he admired the bridge. 

Gina gaped at the sight of it. There had to be at least two hundred locks covering this bridge, all locks with different names and personalities, from people all around the world. It was amazing.

She turned to him, crossing her arms, “Bowen, we don’t even have a padlock.”

“But that street vendor around the corner does!” His grin turned into a slight smirk as he grabbed her hand and started pulling her in the other direction, “Let’s go, pretty girl!”

She ignored the heat rising to her face and followed Ricky all the way to the street vendor. Once they made it to the stand and thankfully discovered that the vendor spoke some English, Ricky purchased a padlock and then proceeded to ask to borrow the man’s permanent marker.

Gina watched carefully as he wrote their names on it, just as he did the other day with the Berlin Wall memorial, and then put the date below their names. Plus, he even included a tiny (messy) heart next to their names on the lock, which resulted in a small smile to appear on Gina’s lips.

After they were done and thanked the vendor, they walked all the way back to the bridge. Once they approached, Gina traced her fingers along some of the locks and admired them closely. 

She found one that was from as early as 2004 and one that was as late as 2020. She frowned slightly.

“Okay, where are we putting ours?”

She chewed on her bottom lip, “Bowen… we’re not actually in love so won’t this kind of ruin the tradition of the love locks?” 

“I’m afraid you make a good point, Porter.” He paused. “ But, this version of us… the Ricky and Gina on a school trip from Utah says otherwise.” He flashed her a cheeky smile, causing Gina to sigh audibly.

“You’re forgetting that people from all around the world are going to see this very padlock with our names on it and actually believe that we’re two people that really love each other.”

“Where’s the harm in that? Our classmates believe it.” Ricky shrugged. “Anyway, why are you so adamant on not putting the lock on this bridge?”

Gina didn’t really know why she was so against this. Maybe it was because there was a hopeless romantic swimming around inside of her and this is exactly the type of thing she’d want to do with her future significant other… you know, leave a small piece of their love somewhere in the world, where it would be remembered forever. 

“Because we’re not really together, you idiot. Why are you so adamant on putting the lock on the bridge? Wouldn’t you want to do this with Nini?”

He frowned slightly in response, which only caused Gina to frown along with him. The last thing she wanted to do was remind him about Nini, but this whole situation was something couples do. And they weren’t a real couple.

“Well, maybe I just want to do it with you. ” He said finally after a few moments, looking down at the padlock in his hands and fiddling with it. 

Gina was taken aback by his words. What was that supposed to mean? Clearly it was something that had taken him by surprise too because she noticed the blush that was crawling up his neck, and she couldn’t help but feel the heat rush to her cheeks too. 

He raised his gaze from the padlock back to Gina, who was still at a loss for words, especially now that she  was looking at him in the eye. They stood there for a moment too long, in a delicate silence, before Ricky broke their eye contact.

He cleared his throat, “You know, since, we’re probably never going to be here again and, uh, it doesn’t look like I’ll be in a situation like this with Nini… anytime soon.”

Gina stood there, cheeks flushed, for a moment before nodding her head slowly, “Um… yeah, right. That makes sense.”

Ricky was now staring down at the padlock intently as if he was trying to avoid her brown eyes. He held it out in front of them, “Uh, so, what do you say?”

She took her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked down at a padlock and tried to push her inner romantic to the side. She reached her hand out and took the lock from his grasp, “Yeah. Why not?”

She could feel his gaze on her as she turned to the bridge and inspected it for any open spots. She spotted one and turned to him, catching his gaze and pointing to the open spot, “What about there?”

He glanced over to the bridge and nodded, “Looks good to me.”

“Cool.” She said simply and then snapped the padlock onto the metal railing. A smile spread across her lips at the sight. “Fits right in.”

She glanced over at Ricky, who was then taking his phone out and snapping a picture of it. Once he was done, he turned to her, “Now what?”

“How anticlimactic.” Gina chuckled softly.

“I guess if we really were together it’d be a little more romantic, but you know…”

“Ew.” Gina scrunched her nose up and feigned disgust. 

“Sounds horrible.” Ricky agreed slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets and then taking a step back from the railing. He clicked his tongue, “Do you just want to start walking around?”

She nodded and took one more look back at the bridge, “Yeah.”

And so they strolled down the streets of Prague in a comfortable silence, admiring the city as it is. They walked, visited some local boutiques that Gina dragged the curly haired boy into (one where she found a great souvenir for her mom), and then about an hour later they stumbled upon a huge mural.

It happened to be Prague's famous Lennon Wall, which was once a regular wall now covered in graffiti of Beatles song lyrics and paintings of John Lennon. Ricky almost fell over at the sight. 

The wall was littered with tourists taking pictures of it and around it. There were even a few artists freely adding to the wall while the visitors gaped at the artwork that covered it. It was coated with vibrant colors, abstract artwork and writings in different languages. 

“This is just absolutely sick, ” Ricky had said for what seemed like the thousandth time since they got there, his eyes lighting up at every piece of artwork they saw. 

Gina liked to see him completely mesmerized by something. It was like the way he lit up when he talked about his favorite movies or other various interests… he got way too excited, which was completely adorable. 

“Yeah. It’s amazing.” She finally agreed, taking her eyes away from him and moving them to the wall. It really was a sight to see. 

Suddenly, Ricky grabbed her hand and turned to her, “Come on, we have to get a picture together.”

She ignored the slight burning sensation that was rising to her cheeks and simply nodded her head, “Okay.”

He dragged her up to the section of the wall with a huge John Lennon portrait and proceeded to ask a stranger to take a picture of them. The people didn’t seem to understand at first, which led to a very entertaining conversation of Ricky trying to explain what he wants them to do (there was a lot of gesturing to his phone and Gina), and they eventually understood exactly what the rambling American boy was trying to say. 

Once the foreigners had obtained Ricky’s phone, he quickly walked back over to Gina and wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulder. She saw him put a peace sign up in her peripheral, causing her to put one up in the air too. 

Not to mention, they haven’t been this close in a while, and Gina could now smell the familiar scent of fresh laundry and it made her smile even more. It felt nice to be in such close proximity with him, even if it was only for a few short seconds.

Before she knew it, her trance was pulled away once the kind strangers were done taking their pictures and she was released Ricky’s grasp.

They thanked the people who took their picture and then she turned to him, “Here, Bowen, get a picture of me. I have to send one to my mom—she’d love this.”

He cocked a brow, “Instead of sending her the one of us?”

She laughed, “Yes. She’d ask way too many questions. Now, here,” she shoved her phone in his hands and went up to the wall and posed.

“Damn, Porter, can’t believe you don’t want your mom knowing about me. I’m wounded.” He said from a few feet away, still not holding her phone up.

She rolled her eyes, still waiting for him to take the camera out, “Are you taking it or not?”

“You’re not being very nice.”

“Not this again. Just take the picture.” She told him, plastering a big smile on her face. “Please.” 

He brought her phone up and took a few pictures of her while simultaneously saying, “You’d think after a week of knowing me, you’d learn to be a little nicer.” 

Once he put her phone down, her smile dropped and she rolled her eyes at him. She took her phone from him, sending him a sweet smile, “Thank you, honey pot.”

“My pleasure, honey butter biscuit.” He plastered on an equally sweet smile that made Gina’s turn into an actual grin. She tore her eyes away from him and averted them to the wall in front of them.

They spent at least another half hour there until they decided to get some more shopping done and explore more of the city until they had to return back to their group at the castle. As they walked, Gina made sure to text her mom the photos of her in front of the Lennon Wall. 

The two teenagers made their way to the Baroque Lesser Town Square, which was the Malá Strana district’s version of the Old Town Square from earlier, where they found plenty of different shops to browse in.

After they visited a small souvenir store, the pair found themselves in an antique shop. Gina was admiring a vintage watch when Ricky approached her wearing a pair of (atrocious) sunglasses he had obtained from one of the racks across the store.

“What do you think?” He chuckled, striking a small pose. 

Gina laughed out loud, covering her mouth, “They’re huge on you! Who would have a head that big?” 

“I don’t know, but I can definitely grow into these.” He smiled at her, then turned to the mirror that was across the room and admired himself.

“They look horrible on you. I think you should get them.”

“You’re always looking out for me, aren’t you?”

“Always.” She smiled. He mirrored her smile back at her, before he went to take the sunglasses off. “Wait! Don’t take them off!” Gina exclaimed, taking her phone out of her back pocket and snapping a photo of him.

She looked at the photo and laughed audibly, showing it to him, “I think I should send this to Nini.”

“Oh, shut up.” He grinned, pushing her phone back to her.

She was about to say something else, but her phone started to ring suddenly. She glanced down at it and saw that it was her mom, then looked up at Ricky, “It’s my mom. I’m gonna take it outside.”

After he nodded and took the sunglasses off, the curly haired girl made her way outside and answered the phone call, “Hi, mom?”

“Hey, sweetheart!” Her mom gushed over the other line. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” Gina laughed. “Is everything okay? You just usually don’t call me during the day.”

“Yes, baby, everything is fine. I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all… it feels like we haven’t talked in forever.”

“I know! I was going to call you later, actually.”

“Are you busy right now? I can call you back.” Her mom said in a worried tone.

“Oh, no, I’m just shopping right now. It’s okay, I can talk.”

“Okay.” She responded, “So I saw you were at the Lennon Wall! That’s so cool.”

“Yeah. It was amazing, mom. Prague is absolutely insane… it’s nothing like Salt Lake or anywhere else we’ve lived.”

“I can imagine.” Her mother hummed happily over the other line. “So how come you haven’t sent me many pictures with Ashlyn or EJ? It’s only been pictures of you.”

Gina chuckled, “Mom, I told you, I’m not in the same group as them so I only really see them in the morning.”

“Okay, well, who have you been hanging out with? Have you been alone? I just worry abo–”

“No! Of course I’m not alone… I’m hanging out with a friend that’s in my group.” Who I’m also fake-dating.

“Oh. Well, what’s their name?” 

Gina paused and bit down on her lip, “His name is Ricky.”

“Ricky? It’s a boy?” Gina could hear a surprise in her tone. She knew that her mom would overreact. 

“Yeah…”

“Well, is he cute?”

Gina could feel the heat already rising to her cheeks. She knew that this probably would be an inevitable conversation with her mom, but she really didn’t think she would have it today. 

She swallowed and turned her body to look into the store window, where she could see a glimpse of Ricky browsing through the merchandise, “Mom.”

“What? I just want to know who my baby girl is spending all her time with!”

Her eyes lingered on Ricky for a few moments too long, “It’s not like that though. I swear… and besides, he likes someone else.”

“Okay.” Her mom had said simply and, thankfully, dropped the topic of conversation. Gina really didn’t want to talk to her mom about Ricky. It just felt strange not telling her the entire truth.

And then their conversation took a turn to what her mother has been up to and more about their trip. It felt good talking to her mom and hearing her voice after a week of not really speaking. 

A little while passed and then Ricky came out of the store with a small bag in his hand. He smiled brightly at Gina, who had still been on the phone.

“Hey, mom? I gotta go.” Gina interrupted her mom, who was currently spewing on about what her co-worker had said to her earlier that day. 

They bid their goodbyes and she hung up the phone, turning to Ricky, “Hi.”

“Hey. How’s your mom?”

“She’s good. I had to tell her about you.” She told him as they started walking away from the shop.

His brows raised in surprise and smirked slightly, “Yeah? Did you tell her how absolutely handsome I am?”

“You wish.” 

He laughed, “Well… did you tell her about our situation?”

“God, no. She would kill me, Bowen.” She chuckled softly and her eyes traveled down to the bag that was in his hand. She pointed to it, “Whatcha get?”

His face faltered for a moment and he looked down at the bag, “Oh, uh… it’s a secret.”

Her brows furrowed at his strange reaction to her question, but decided to throw it behind her and sent him a half-smile, “A magnet?”

She watched as his lips quirked up into a slight smile, “Yeah. A magnet.”

The smile that had been on his lips became even bigger as he stared back at her. They held their eye contact for a moment, before Ricky cleared his throat and looked in the other direction, causing Gina to frown slightly. 

Over the next half hour they slowly headed uptown towards the Prague castle so they could join back with their group. Together, the pair visited a lot of different Czech stores, visited markets in which they tried different foods together, and just enjoyed each other’s company. It was nearing 3:30 in the afternoon once they reached the castle and were greeted by their other group members. 

From there, they all decided to visit Golden Lane, which was a street situated on the grounds of the Prague castle. Carlos, Nini and Elias hadn’t gotten to fully experience it while on their guided tour so they practically dragged the fake couple to the infamous street. They spent a good chunk of their time there, until they decided to get dinner before they had to head back to meet the rest of their classmates.

━━━━━━

It was now about 9 at night and everyone had retreated back to their rooms for the night. Gina was laying on her bed, scrolling through her Instagram while Ashlyn was in the bathroom. 

After 15 minutes, the redhead emerged from the bathroom and stood right in front of Gina’s bed. The girl moved her phone out of the way and stared up at her friend, “Can I help you?”

“We are going out tonight.”

“Again?” Gina asked, her brows raising in curiosity. She didn’t think her body would ever recover from this trip.

“Well, we’re not going to a nightclub or anything but we’re going to do some karaoke!”

“Karaoke?” She repeated, a small groan escaping her lips. “Why are we going to do karaoke?”

“Because karaoke is fun…”

Gina looked at her unconvinced, knowing that Ashlyn would not just randomly plan to go to a karaoke bar in the middle of Prague. 

She sighed audibly, “Okay, well, me and Red heard from EJ, who said that he and Kourt were going to go to some little karaoke bar that they found earlier with… Nini and Elias—now before you say no, it could be fun!”

“ Fun? Ash, it’d be fun if Elias and Nini weren’t going.”

“Nini and Elias aren’t that bad, Gina!” 

She scoffed, “Being with them is exhausting! All Nini does is give me dirty looks every time I’m around.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t dating her ex-boyfriend…”

“Fake-dating.” Gina corrected her best friend. “And so what? She can’t do anything to hide her annoyance? It’s like she doesn’t even try.”

“At least you know it’s working.” 

“Yeah, I guess.” She mumbled in response, laying back down on her bed. “Is Ricky at least going?”

Ashlyn paused for a moment and Gina could feel the heat rising to her face, “So he can suffer through it with me.”

The redhead nodded slowly, “Yeah… okay. But, I’m pretty sure that Red is convincing him as we speak.” When all Gina did was silently nod, Ashlyn continued, “Speaking of your fake relationship… What did you two do today?”

Gina explained all of their escapades that they went on today, excluding the love-lock bridge because she knew how Ashlyn would react to that. It’s not really something a fake couple does, or even friends who are posing as a fake couple… Anyway, she went on to tell her about visiting a part of the castle, what she bought for her mom, and how they randomly stumbled upon the wall dedicated to John Lennon.

Then Ashlyn went on to tell Gina all about her day. Apparently, she and Red found a place where they put on puppet shows and sat through at least two of them (obviously, it was Big Red’s idea - which was not at all surprising). While she was in the middle of listening to her best friend’s very intriguing story, her phone buzzed. It was a text from Ricky.

I’m assuming you just heard about karaoke too...

Yup! I’m just glad Carlos isn’t coming with us.

That would be actuall hell

see you soonnnnn

━━━━━━

The girls got ready fairly quickly. Gina had changed from her jeans and t-shirt to a white top and her pink leather skirt, while Ashlyn changed into one of her favorite summer dresses. Once they were done getting ready, they met the boys outside their room and snuck down to the lobby in hopes of not getting caught.

Their walk to the karaoke bar was short and sweet. The group of four were completely enraptured by Prague under the night sky; it was absolutely breathtaking, and even though they saw it the night prior, one night wasn’t enough. 

Gina and Ashlyn led the way to the bar with the directions that EJ had strategically written out in a text message (even though they could have just googled it), while Big Red and Ricky gushed about the fact that Tom Holland had walked these very streets while filming the most recent Spider-Man film (especially once they were crossing the Charles Bridge… they wouldn’t shut up; Gina thought it was cute).

Within 15 short minutes, they made it to their destination. It was a quaint bar situated somewhere in the Malá Strana district and it turned out not to be too packed with guests so the teenagers weren’t too worried about completely embarrassing themselves during their karaoke run. 

Upon entering, they immediately spotted their friends (well, their friends and Nini and Elias). Gina slipped her hand right into Ricky’s as if it was just second nature at this point as they made their way over to their classmates, who were all sitting with drinks in front of them.

Gina scrunched her nose up at the thought of drinking again. She had never really had the opportunity to drink alcohol before this trip, so when she had some the night before, let’s just say she didn’t like the burning sensation it sent down her throat. 

“Hey guys!” EJ greeted happily, a grin appearing on his lips. Gina smiled as she noticed he was sitting rather closely next to Kourtney.

“Hey! Who’s ready to get our karaoke on?” Ashlyn clapped her hands together.

“EJ and I have a great song picked out.” Kourtney said with a smile, her eyes smiling over at the boy next to her. “We’re going to knock your socks off.”

Nini scoffed playfully, “Yeah, well, Eli and I have an even better song picked out.”

EJ whistled in response, “We’ll see about that.” 

Ricky nudged Gina, gaining her attention, and whispered, “Maybe we should’ve come prepared.”

She turned her head to look him in the eyes, not realizing how close they actually were, shrugging slightly, “We’ve got time to think about it.”

Once everyone got their drinks, though Gina declined claiming she had to make sure everyone got out of there in one piece, Kourtney and EJ were the first to take the stage and Gina was extremely excited for this one.

“Hi everyone!” Kourt radiated excitement with her big smile and she pointed over to EJ, who was looking at her with heart eyes, “This is EJ and I’m Kourtney and tonight we will be singing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John!”

Gina clapped and cheered at their song choice. EJ grinned at her from the stage and shook his head, “Disclaimer, though, my name is not really Elton John…”

“Yes it is! He’s lying!” Ashlyn shouted.

The curly haired girl could feel Ricky laugh beside her, “God, the people in here are going to hate us.” It’s true. Who wants to watch a bunch of American teenagers sing karaoke on a Wednesday night?

“Totally. But, they’re going to be so blown away by our performance that it’ll all be worth it.” She reminded him, a playful smile on her lips. 

“Oh yeah? And what exactly are we singing?” He tilted his head curiously, his brows raising just as Kourtney and EJ started to sing their duet.

“Still thinking about it.” Gina replied, her smile growing as she heard the boy chuckle softly in response. They both respectfully turned their attention towards the pair on stage after their eyes lingered on one another for a few moments too long.

EJ and Kourtney were having the time of their life up there on stage, singing their hearts out while simultaneously stealing everyone in the room’s heart. Their voices and personalities went together so beautifully. 

Once their duet ended, it was Nini and Elias who made their way up on stage next. Gina wasn’t all too excited to see their performance knowing that Ricky had to witness it too. 

“Alright, Porter, what are we singing?” Ricky turned to her suddenly as Nini started to speak into the microphone. It seemed as if he wanted to give himself a distraction, which she understood.

She had already thought of a couple songs they could go with and tapped her hand on the table, “Either Gotta Go my Own Way or You Are the Music in Me. What do you think?”

His brows rose skeptically, “Both from High School Musical?”

“Obviously.” Gina rolled her eyes. “If you go to a karaoke bar and don’t sing a song from HSM… are you really doing anything right?”

Ricky smiled back at her for a moment, before shaking his head, “And what makes you think I’ve seen any of the High School Musical movies?”

She crossed her arms, “You wouldn’t have known either of those songs, Bowen, nice try. Pick one.”

“Fine.” Ricky grumbled. “Uh… You Are the Music in Me. Really gotta channel my inner Troy Bolton for this one, huh?”

“What makes you think that you get to sing Troy’s part?”

“Shouldn’t you be Gabriella, though?” Ricky countered, nudging her slightly. “Stick it to Nini and show her you should’ve been Gabriella.”

Gina’s lips parted, “Are you saying Nini sucked as Gabriella?”

“I didn’t say anything.” The smirk on his lips told her the opposite from what he was saying, which in all honesty surprised Gina. She thought he adored Nini and everything she did, but clearly thought she wasn’t good enough to be the lead of the school musical. 

She hummed in response, not really caring to talk about his ex-girlfriend for a second longer. They turned back to the couple on stage, who were now singing a duet of You’re the One That I Want from the 1978 classic Grease.

Gina could feel how tense Ricky was as they watched the pair sing their hearts out on stage, so without a word she nudged him slightly and sent him a small smile. 

He returned the gesture, but she still felt like he wasn’t fully himself, which made sense. He was watching the girl he loved sing to another boy and that must really hurt…

She returned her attention to the said couple. 

Nini was incredibly talented, she couldn’t deny that. She had a really beautiful voice that almost made Gina envious of it. She had never really been confident in her singing abilities like she was with her dancing and acting.

The one other thing that Gina could actually take away from watching their somewhat impressive rendition of the Grease song was that her crush on Elias? It might be gone. Or just have lessened… but it’s definitely not what it used to be.

Watching him perform up there on stage had gotten her thinking about her so-called crush on him. The past few days she’d interacted with him, but she hadn’t felt what she used to feel when she was around him. She wasn’t giddy, she didn’t get butterflies, and most of all he wasn’t on her mind one bit. 

This really confused her because a week ago, she had a huge crush on the boy. He was the big guy on campus, next to EJ, he was charming and made every girl swoon — including Gina. They were lab partners and she couldn’t deny that she had an attraction towards him for months. But now, strangely, there’s… nothing.

And then the song ended, ripping Gina from her bubble of confused thoughts and feelings. As Nini and Elias walked off of stage, Ashlyn approached the fake couple with a bright smile, beaming ear to ear, “You’re up!”

They exchanged a nervous glance and then made their way up to the small stage. Once they were up there, Ricky grabbed his mic, causing the mic to do that awful feedback squeak, and awkwardly cleared his throat, “Hello, friends, and people I don’t know… uh, me and Gina will be rocking a song from High School Musical 2. Yup… hope you like it.”

Gina couldn’t help but laugh at how uncomfortable he looked with all the eyes on him. 

“Woo! Go, Ricky!” Big Red cheered loudly from his seat, drumming his hands on the table.

The piano of the classic song started to play through the speakers while Gina waited for her cue to start singing on the lyric TV. She was bopping her head to the best and glanced over to Ricky quickly, who held his microphone tightly in his hand. 

He really didn’t look in his element, but Gina really had a feeling that he was going to have fun. At least, she hoped. 

She tore her eyes from the boy and to the screen, where the first lyrics had started to appear. She leaned into her mic and started to sing the beginning of the song, “Na, na, na, na…”

“ Na, na, na, na, yeah… you are the music in me.” 

She tried to focus all her efforts into her singing all the while she could feel Ricky’s eyes on her the entire time. It was extremely distracting. But she sang the rest of the intro as if it didn’t bother her.

“You know the words "once upon a time"… you listen, there's a reason, when you dream there's a chance you'll find a little laugher,” she glanced over at Ricky, a small grin on her lips before she leaned back into the microphone, “or happy ever after…” 

She was more than excited to finally be able to hear Ricky’s singing voice after the three days she’s known about it being his thing. She couldn’t deny that she hasn’t thought about it since then. 

She looked over to him, right before he was about to come into the song and scrunched her nose at him. He replied with a playful eye roll as they both leaned into their microphones.

“Your harmony…” They sang together in unison and Gina couldn’t help the smile that instantly broke out on her lips, “to the melody…”

In all honesty, she wasn’t that surprised; his voice was like butter, it was incredibly smooth and just fit him. He had only sung five words, but he had Gina hanging on every single one of them. 

“That’s echoing inside my head,” the two sang together.

“…a single voice,” Gina followed, turning her head to glance at him. 

“Single voice,” Ricky’s eyes flickered from the screen to Gina’s.

“…Above the noise,” she sang along, without even looking at the screen and stayed with their eyes connected.

“And like a common thread…” 

He grinned and pointed over to her as he sang the lyrics, “Hmm, you’re pulling me.”

Gina almost felt her heart skip a beat, but quickly ignored it and grabbed her mic off the stand and began singing the chorus once it started. She really didn’t have to watch the screen, since she had already seen the movie about thirty times, and it seemed like Ricky didn’t have his eyes on the screen much either. 

As they happily sang the chorus, Ricky seemed to become more comfortable on stage. It really felt like it was only them, just dancing around the stage and singing along to a song from a classic Disney movie. It was perfect.

“It’s like I knew you before we met…” Gina sang, pointing at Ricky, who was getting into the groove of the song. She shrugged, “Can’t explain it.”

“There’s no name for it…” For some reason, it felt like this verse in particular really felt like them. And singing it together almost made her feel more connected to him.

“I sang you words I’ve never said and it was easy,” she continued singing with him, ignoring all of the strange feelings that were bubbling inside her at that moment.

“And it was easy, because you see,” he pointed over to her and then gestured to his eye causing Gina to laugh audibly, “the real me…” 

“As I am, you understand, and that’s all I’ve ever known,” they sang together in harmony, never breaking their eye contact or even batting an eyelash towards their audience. “And that’s more than I’ve ever known…”

“To hear your voice,” she sang and he followed by singing the next part.

“Above the noise, oh, and I know that I'm not alone… Oh, you're singing to me,” the two performed in unison, gradually getting closer to each other on the stage. 

They fell into the chorus and found that some of their friends were singing along with them as they sang, which made them turn their attention to the audience more. 

Gina was having fun, more fun than she thought she would have and maybe it was just because that is what it’s like to be around Ricky. She was never bored, she never wanted to be away from him, she just loved being in his presence. 

And his singing? She could listen to him all day. His voice was intoxicating in a way; there was just something about it that made her stomach fill with a ton of butterflies. 

She was having the time of her life singing with him. It was so much fun to see him in his element, just singing and not worrying about anything else in the world. It felt like they were the only ones in the room, like they were in Gina’s living room singing along to the soundtrack at two in the morning. 

By the end of the song, Gina felt dizzy from all of the unfamiliar feelings that were emerging throughout the performance. She couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol because she didn’t have a single sip, but she felt intoxicated. Ricky had this strange effect on her and she couldn’t never put her finger on it, or maybe she just didn’t want to put her finger on it.

The song had finally ended with the pair completely out of breath. The audience (their friends and, well, at least ten strangers) were roaring in excitement at the two of them and their wonderful performance. 

Gina set her microphone back down on the stand and then turned to Ricky, who put his hand up in the air for a high five, which she gladly gave into. They held onto each other’s hands, though, and met each other with messy grins.

“Now that was fun.” Ricky said simply, his grin never leaving his face.

“How is it you knew all of those lyrics without reading the screen, Bowen?” She responded with a smirk in her voice.

“Maybe I’m just a secret HSM stan, Porter. You weren’t looking at that screen one bit either.”

Her cheeks flamed and she looked away towards her friends, who were almost all looking at them, then turned back to him, “I think we should add it to the list.” She said, disregarding the fact that he noticed she was staring at him the whole time. 

“Already added it.” He beamed, which made Gina even more dizzy. 

With that, the fake couple made their exit off stage with a little bow as Ashlyn and Red made their way onto the stage. They sat down at their table and turned their attention towards their best friends on stage. 

Well, Gina was trying to pay attention to them, but found her thoughts wandering off to the boy next to her, which was not at all an uncommon occurrence over the past few days. He just always seemed to be in her head.

The butterflies that were in her stomach might as well be permanent because they definitely weren’t going away anytime soon. They sat at their table in silence, trying to pay attention to their friends even though there seemed to be a large amount of tension in the air that Gina could not wrap her mind around.

Big Red and Ashlyn went on to sing a perfectly hilarious version of Poker Face by Lady Gaga. Eventually, Gina allowed herself to focus on her friends on stage and have fun even if the boy next to her was on the back of her mind.

And then the rest of the night went by in the blink of an eye. Altogether, the group probably sang about 15 different songs – including a Big Red and Ricky One Direction duet (which Ashlyn and Gina made sure to get on video). Not to mention all the girls had sung together Dancing Queen to end the night. 

Gina was actually happy that they all went out for karaoke, despite her initial disapproval. She had a lot of fun with her friends, especially with Ricky, though she’d never say it out loud.

Ricky, Gina, Ashlyn and Red had all decided to leave back to the hotel before the others. And, of course, Gina couldn’t help but notice Ricky stealing a glance towards Nini on their way out of the bar. 

Their walk back to their hotel was just as it was when they left: short and sweet. They crossed the Charles Bridge, this time though, with Ashlyn and Big Red leading the way back to their hotel while Ricky and Gina were trailing a few feet behind them. 

The pair were walking fairly close next to one another and, occasionally, Gina felt their hands brush causing her heart rate to increase ever-so slightly every single time. 

After nearly 15 minutes, they arrived back at their Old Town hotel. The girls practically forced the boys to go in first in case any chaperones were lurking the lobby at that hour. Once the coast was clear, they all made their way into the lobby despite gaining a disapproving glance from the hotel worker at the front desk.

They all made their way to the elevators, Gina was brought back to the night before when Ricky had kissed her cheek. She felt stupid for constantly thinking about it… it’s not like it meant anything for real.

“You guys should come to mine and Ricky’s room!” Big Red exclaimed as they all waited for the doors to open, pulling Gina right out of her thoughts. “Earlier when Ashlyn and I were shopping, we bought, like, a massive amount of Czech candy that’s just dying to get eaten…”

“Oh my God, yes!” Ashlyn responded, a laugh in her voice. “I completely forgot about all the candy we bought. It’s seriously an ugly amount.”

“There’s no such thing as an ugly amount of candy.” Ricky told the group, chuckling softly. He turned to Gina, “You up for it?”

She glanced up at him with warm eyes and a small nod, “Yeah. It sounds like fun.”

━━━━━━

An hour and an ungodly amount of candy eaten later, the group of four sat in complete silence in Red and Ricky’s hotel room. Once they had gotten done trying the various types of foreign candy, the group fell into a comfortable silence as they all collectively went on their phones and simply enjoyed each other’s presence.

Red laid back on his bed with Ashlyn sitting next to him. He was typing away on his phone, a small giggle escaping his lips every now and then, and Gina gathered that he was texting the mystery boy that had driven Ricky crazy for the past week. 

The curly haired girl was scrolling through her Instagram, liking her classmates posts as she went along and occasionally stealing a glance towards the boy next to her. He mirrored Big Red’s position, laying on his back while scrolling on his phone. 

As she peeked over at him, she began to wonder what he was doing on his phone. He had a small crease formed between his eyebrows as he gazed up at his screen, a small look of discontent on his face. Was it Nini? Did she say something?

Gina frowned slightly and glanced away so he wouldn’t catch her. She focused on her phone, where she then went to send a quick text to her mom (the quick text turned out to be a bunch of pictures from her day in Prague).

And then after a few moments, an audible sigh escaped Ricky’s lips. Gina’s head snapped over to him, expecting him to say something, but he didn’t even look in her direction.

Instead, she watched as Ricky got up from the bed after aggressively turning his phone off, then headed outside to the balcony without saying anything. She frowned again, turning to Big Red, who was now sitting up and just as confused as she was. 

Then, without a word, Gina got up from the bed and headed for the sliding glass door to the balcony. She opened it and Ricky looked up at her from where he sat, a small frown on his lips. She silently made her way outside, closed the door behind her and then sat in the seat next to Ricky.

She didn’t want to push, she didn’t want to say the wrong thing, but she did want to make him feel better. After a few moments, she turned to look at him, “You know, you’re actually not half bad at the singing thing.”

He glanced over at her, a small look of amusement had replaced the scowl on his face. He paused for a moment, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Her lips turned up into a slight smile before turning her attention to the city view, “Well, for one, I love romance movies.”

His brows raised, a small twinkle in his eyes from the city lights in front of them. Gina continued, “You know I like to bake, but I didn’t tell you that there’s this youtuber that I love called Chef Sam—he’s basically my spirit guide in the kitchen. I love YouTube videos.”

A small laugh escaped Ricky’s lips.

“I collect postcards from every place I’ve lived, I cannot whistle for the life of me, I don’t have my license, I wish I could play the guitar, or any instrument for that matter, I’ve never been on a date nor have I ever had a boyfriend, and ,” she stopped, pondering her next words, “To put it simply, I’m scared of not being good enough.”

She felt her heart start to race as she said the last thing. It was a small nod to their conversation from the other day, when Ricky mentioned that everyone is afraid of something. Being vulnerable wasn’t really something that was familiar territory for Gina, but for some reason she was comfortable enough to tell him that. 

He was looking back at her and it felt like his gaze was never going to break away; it was so strong, so intense that she felt like he could see right through her. After a second, Gina looked away, “That’s just a few things you didn’t know.”

Silence fell between them again, and Gina hoped that she didn’t upset him any further. She was just trying to make him feel better, but if she overshared and went too far… she’d feel awful. 

“You can’t whistle?” He had said after a few moments, the tone of amusement evident in his voice and a wave of relief washed over Gina.

She glanced over to him, a smile ghosting her lips, “Nope. It’s impossible.”

“Well, Gina Porter can’t be good at everything.” 

“That’s true. I have to have one flaw.”  She chuckled softly. Their eyes met and Gina could feel her heart rate start to increase ever-so slightly as she saw a ghost of a smile on his lips. 

He glanced away, taking his bottom lip between his lips. Her eyes stayed on him for a moment too long before she turned her attention towards the city.

And then they sat in quiet for a while. It didn’t feel awkward or tense per-say, but Gina really didn’t know what to make of it. She was there to cheer him up in any way she could, but she didn’t want to overstep.

“I’m scared of change.” Ricky finally spoke after a few minutes of silence between the pair. A small sigh escaped his lips, “It freaks me out.”

She turned her head to him and nodded slowly, “I get it. Change is hard… it’s hard, but it’s inevitable.”

“Yeah.” He said in almost a whisper while he gently kicked the rail on the balcony with his foot. “Anyways…”

She took that as her cue to drop the topic, just because it seemed like he wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it. So naturally, a comfortable silence fell between them now. 

Ricky’s phone vibrated again. He picked it up and sighed audibly, before setting it back on his lap. 

Gina studied him. He now had a frown on his lips again, he was slumped all the way down in his chair, and continued to kick the steel rail of the balcony.

“Do you,” she spoke softly, “do you want to talk about it?”

Ricky pursed his lips and stared at the city in front of him, “It’s stupid… I don’t know why I’m upset over it.”

She turned her body to him, “Whatever it is, it’s not stupid.”

He turned his head towards her, seeming as if he was expecting her to be lying, but he was only met with sincere eyes. He bit the inside of his cheek, “Uh… My mom texted me. We’re not really close or anything, but she texted me that she’s coming to graduation… with her boyfriend… Todd. ”

Gina nodded her head in response, allowing him to continue. Ricky turned his attention towards the city again, “I haven’t met him yet and I don’t want it to be during my graduation, you know? It’s so–I shouldn’t be so upset over it, it’s just I don’t want to see my dad get hurt. It’s stupid…”

“You have every right to feel upset over it, Ricky.” She told him. He glanced over to her, tilting his head slightly. She continued, “It’s okay to be upset and feel angry. It’s a big deal to bring someone else into your life, especially during your graduation.”

Ricky chewed the inside of his cheek, shrugging his shoulders, “Yeah. It just doesn’t feel like the right time to meet this dude… I mean, not that any time will be the right time, God, I don’t know…”

“Yeah…” Gina agreed softly. “But, you know your mom is doing it with all the best intentions, right? Think of it this way, she’s probably insanely proud of you and what you’re accomplishing and she just wants to be there to celebrate with you. And I know, it sucks that she has to bring this new guy in, but it was going to happen eventually.”

“And your dad? He probably just wants the best for you and your mom, so if being with someone else makes your mom happy, then he’ll be happy. You’ll all work it out. They’ll be there to celebrate you. They all want what's best for you, Ricky… even this Todd guy.”

It took him a few moments to process it all, before he nodded his head, “Yeah… yeah. I guess you’re right.”

Her lips quirked up into a smile, “And, hey, if you suddenly need to skip out on your awkward graduation dinner just give me a call and I’ll be there.”

Their eyes met and they held eye contact for a few moments too long, before Ricky averted his eyes to his lap, a small laugh escaping his lips, “I’d have to pick you up, though, since you don’t drive.”

“I didn’t think that part through. It’d be a little weird asking my mom to drive me to your house on graduation night.”

“Yeah and then we’d have to explain to our parents how exactly we know each other.” Ricky cackled.

“I’m sure my mom would be thrilled to know how I’m spending my entire trip to Europe.”

“I don’t think my dad would be supportive of it either. It’s really not my brightest idea.” He laughed quietly, a slight smirk on the corner of his mouth.

A small laugh escaped Gina’s lips in response. 

A while later, Ricky pursed his lips and turned towards the girl next to him, “So you’ve… never had a boyfriend?”

“You’re making it seem like a bad thing, Bowen.”

“No–it’s not! It’s just… surprising, I guess.”

“Surprising?” Gina sat up, her brows raised.

“I don’t know.” He said quickly. “You’re you. Can’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to date you.”

In the week she’s known him, she’d come to realize that Ricky Bowen was not someone who had a way with words, but that sure as hell made Gina’s heart skip a beat. 

“Um… thanks.” Gina chuckled softly, ducking her head shyly as she felt his eyes on her. To distract herself, she picked at the loose thread in her jeans and continued, “It’s always been kind of hard for me to put myself out there because of my constant moving around. It was always a risk of moving to a new place and getting attached to the people… So, for most of my life, I’ve never really had any friends or even thought about having a boyfriend.”

She hesitantly glanced over to Ricky, who’s brown eyes were staring right back at her. He nodded understandingly and Gina glanced away, looking down at her hands.

Her mind curiously wandered to the boy and his past relationships, wondering if he had been with any other girls or guys besides Nini. 

“Well, what about you,” she began, looking up from her lap, “is Nini the only person you've been with?”

“Yup. Well, actually, I did go on a date with Peyton Fraser freshman year before I asked Nini out. And I had my first kiss with Rebecca Woodard in seventh grade. But beside that, Nini was my first girlfriend, my first real anything, I guess.”

Gina nodded her head slowly. “Your first kiss was with Rebecca Woodard? ” 

“Yup. It lasted all of two seconds and was definitely the highlight of middle school. I will say Nini was pissed.”

She laughed, “Some things never change.”

“What about you…” Ricky trailed, staring at his lap for a moment before looking up at Gina, “who was your first kiss? Not that I’d know the guy or anything…”

Gina felt all the blood rush to her cheeks and she tore her eyes away from the boy next to her, “Oh um…”

“Oh come on. You don’t have an embarrassing first kiss story?”

“It was a tad bit embarrassing.” Gina forced out a laugh, avoiding his gaze.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that embarrassing.” Ricky assured her.

Did she really want to admit to him that their truth or dare misadventure happened to be her first kiss? She might not hear the end of it.

After a few moments of fiddling with her charm bracelet, she looked up at Ricky and decided to rip the bandaid off, “It was you.”

By the look on his face, he didn’t seem all that surprised, which was really not what Gina had expected. He seemed more like he was pretending to be surprised. Oh… maybe he could tell she had no idea what she was doing when it happened.

“ Me? ”

Gina looked down at her hands that laid in her lap and then looked up, “Yes. You.”

“Like the other night?”

“Yes the other night, Bowen. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that has been the only time we’ve kissed.”

“Oh.” He said simply, nodding his head slowly as if he was processing the information. “That’s… wow.”

Gina felt her cheeks start to burn. “It’s wow? I just told you I’ve never had a boyfriend so, I mean, I never really had anyone to kiss.”

“Yeah, like, wow… surprising. It just took me off guard, I guess.”

“Surprising-good? Or surprising-bad? I thought we were friends here, Bowen, no judgement.”

“I’m not judging you, Porter. It’s surprising in a good way, I promise.” He turned to her, a look on his face that gave Gina all of the reassurance she needed.

“Okay.” She said simply and nodded her head.

He laughed lightly, glancing back to the city in front of them, “Some first kiss, huh?”

“Worst experience of my life.” Gina teased, a small smile playing on her lips. The corners of his lips quirked upwards as she looked back at him and there was a look on his face that she couldn’t quite decipher, but somehow it still managed caused butterflies to erupt in her stomach. 

She wondered if he could tell she was lying. It definitely wasn’t the worst experience of her life. Far from it actually.

After a minute, Ricky swallowed, breaking their eye contact and then looked down at his lap, “Sorry it wasn’t anything special. If I knew… I wouldn’t of–”

“Bowen, it’s okay. Like I said earlier, it’s just something we couldn’t get out of.”

A small sigh escaped his lips, “I don’t know, I guess I still feel bad about it. First kisses are kind of a big deal and–”

“Ricky,” Gina said softly, turning to him, “I’m serious, it’s okay. I got it out of the way and it’s not like it’s going to happen again.”

There was still a slight frown on his lips. 

“It’s like… your kiss with Rebecca Woodard… how was it?”

“I mean, it wasn’t great and I had no idea what I was doing.” 

“But do you regret it?”

“No.” He shrugged.

“And who was your second kiss?”

“Nini.”

“Huh.” Gina smiled. “I’m sure that kiss with Rebecca paid off. It’s the second kiss that really matters.”

He bit down on his lip and nodded his head slowly, still seeming as if he wasn’t thoroughly convinced despite her saying that it was okay, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Their conversation then blossomed into some mindless topics as they watched over the city of Prague under the night sky. It was peaceful, comfortable, and incredibly beautiful. Gina wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, or be with anyone else. 

As she was in the middle of telling Ricky about EJ’s whole plan to sweep Kourtney off her feet before the end of the trip, there was a small knock on the sliding glass door behind them. The two teenagers turned and it revealed Ashlyn, who gave them a sweet smile as she slowly opened the door.

“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt but it’s getting really late and I’m getting pretty tired so…” 

Gina nodded, pushing the feeling of disappointment rising in her chest back where it came from, “Yeah, totally. I’m kind of tired too.”

Ashlyn looked between the two and then her eyes rested on Ricky, and smiled smally, “See you tomorrow, Ricky.”

“Night, Ashlyn.” He replied and returned her smile. The redhead glanced between the two once again, before then leaving back into the room.

She turned back to Ricky and pressed her lips into a smile, “Well, goodnight.”

His eyes lingered on her for a moment and Gina took that as her cue to head out. She was about to lift herself up from the chair when suddenly Ricky’s hand was placed on top of hers.

“Hey.” He rushed out gently.

Her breath hitched softly at the contact. She should be used to their hands touching, but she wasn’t used to doing it when they’re in private. It was different. Her eyes traveled down to their hands before looking back up at Ricky, heat racing to her cheeks.

He paused for a moment, “Thanks for… this. ”

She swallowed, “Anytime, Bowen.”

Then she got up, releasing her hand from his touch and headed inside. Once she was indoors, she let out a deep breath which she didn’t realize she was holding in. Maybe it was the fact that it was nearly three in the morning, maybe it was the fact that she had an incredibly long day and her body needed sleep, but her mind felt foggy and her heart was pounding. 

Big Red looked up at her with curious eyes and she sent him a smile and a nod as if she told him that Ricky was okay. 

Ashlyn was waiting by the door so Gina bid the redheaded boy goodnight and headed out the door with her best friend. The two of them made it to their room within five minutes and proceeded to get ready for bed. 

“Was Ricky okay? He seemed pretty upset.” Ashlyn asked as the two girls were finally settled into their room.

“Yeah, he’s okay. It was just some family stuff.” Gina replied simply.

“Okay, good. Red and I were kind of worried.” 

The two girls talked for a bit longer about their days and their excitement of the coming days as they laid in their beds. After a while, Gina turned off the light and the pair gradually put a stop to their conversations.

She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and sent a quick goodnight text to her mom. Her mom responded within a minute, sending a few goodnight texts along with one asking why Gina was still up at 3 in the morning. Once she responded to her mom and was about to turn her phone off, her eyes landed on Ricky’s contact in her recent text messages.

She chewed on her bottom lip, before clicking on his contact and sending him a quick text, hoping that he wasn’t already asleep (but, it’s Ricky, of course he’s not asleep).

Are you feeling any better? 

About the situation with your mom?

She waited a few moments and then saw the typing bubble appear on the screen.

Yeah, actually I do feel a bit better. I think I just needed to see it from a different perspective :)

Good! Don’t let it get to you.

See you tomorrow?

Yeah. See you tomorrow, Gina-rina.

She smiled down at her phone as she read over their conversation again. There was something about the way he called her Gina-rina that made her feel giddy inside. After a few moments, she turned her phone off and set it on the bedside table beside her.

Now she was staring up at the ceiling, letting her thoughts completely take over. 

They wandered to their conversation earlier where they talked about their kiss, and Gina couldn’t help but feel like Ricky still felt bad about it. But he had absolutely nothing to feel bad about. As much as she would never say the words out loud, she didn’t regret their kiss in the slightest.

She smoothed the comforter out with her hand and turned to look over at Ashlyn, who was now sound asleep in her bed.

Then, without overthinking it, Gina grabbed her phone and began typing.

I’m glad it was you. 

Oh yeah?

Don’t let it go to your head. 

Get some rest, sleepyhead. Paris tomorrow!

Night Ricky :)

Goodnight Gina!

She was about to turn her phone off for the second time, until she received one last next about a minute later.

I’m glad it was me too.

Chapter Text

scared to put the water with the roses

– paris, sabrina carpenter 

I’m glad it was you.

I’m glad it was you.

Ricky couldn’t stop replaying those five words in his head the entire bulk of the morning. He woke up thinking about them, they rang through his head his entire shower, and even now as he was stuffing all of his belongings into his suitcases. Surely there was no way that he could stop thinking about it.

Those five words freaked him out. It wasn’t something that he had ever thought that Gina would say to him—well, text him. It was surprising. Completely and utterly surprising. He had somehow convinced himself that she regretted that kiss, that it really didn’t mean anything to her, but she must’ve read his mind and sent him that text message.

Not to mention his heart dancing and leaping in his chest as he read those five little words in that moment, while the blood rushed to his cheeks and butterflies erupted in his stomach. 

He hated it.

He hated it because that is not the reaction that he should get when he thinks of Gina Porter and her soft curls and the way her cheeks flush when he calls her beautiful… She was his fake girlfriend and absolutely nothing more. 

But then he had to go and tell her that he was glad it was him too. It’s not that he didn’t mean it, because actually he meant every word of it, it’s just that it was the most confusing thing ever. 

Their relationship was the most confusing thing ever when he really thought about it. They’re friends… but do friends send each other messages saying that their kiss meant something to both of them? 

Clearly they do not. Ricky doesn’t go to bed thinking of Big Red, he doesn’t get butterflies when he thinks of him, and most definitely doesn’t feel the urge to kiss him at random moments. 

Now, just like the days prior, as they left their hotel room Ricky became almost nervous to see Gina again. He knew that they were just going to ignore the events of night before and act as if they never even happened, but he still could feel the butterflies creeping into his stomach and the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he followed his best friend down the hallway to the elevator.

Big Red was droning on about how much he missed their weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) game of Fortnite, where they snacked on a ridiculous amount of hot Cheetos while they smoked in his basement as if they weren’t just a few days away from partaking in that activity again. Though he longed for their smoke sessions featuring his favorite snack, he couldn’t find it in himself to really care about it at that particular moment. 

There were just too many weird feelings happening in Ricky-town.

With a ding, the boy attempted to shove all of his nervous thoughts and worries to the back of his brain, but that plan ultimately failed once he laid his eyes on her soft curls and heard her faint giggle as she conversed with her two closest friends.

“What the fuck. ” He cursed under his breath in annoyance as a result of the warmth arising in his stomach and the sudden jump in his pulse. His hand tightened around the handle of his suitcase and then again tried to shove his nerves away.

“What? Did you forget something upstairs? Do I smell bad?” Red asked while grabbing his shirt and smelling himself, causing Ricky to glance over at him. He didn’t realize that his best friend was right there next to him. “I don’t think I smell bad.”

“Uh,” he started, heat rushing to his face, not yet ready to tell his friend about whatever the hell he’s feeling. “ Shit, no—it’s really… I mean, it’s nothing… just something stupid.”

Big Red gave him an incredulous look. 

Ricky flashed an uncomfortable smile and then turned his head to avoid the redhead’s gaze. Once they approached Gina, Ashlyn and EJ, his grasp on his suitcase handle tightened even more.

“Hey.” He had said, mostly directed at Gina rather than the whole group. 

Their eyes met and Ricky felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He instantly noticed the crease forming between her brows while her eyes scanned over his face.

“You good, Bowen?”

His lips parted, “Uh, yeah… I guess I’m just… a little on edge.”

“On edge? About what?” Gina asked curiously, tilting her head slightly. 

Oh you know, I’m having all these insanely weird feelings towards you and they just won’t go away. 

“Is it Nini?”

Nini. The whole reason Ricky and Gina are friends. The girl across the lobby practically draped over her current boyfriend. That Nini.

The act of her name being brought up was almost a slap in the face to the curly haired boy. He needed to be worrying about the limited days they had left of this trip that could be used to get her back. He needed to be worrying about how to get Elias Scott out of the picture. He should not be worrying about Gina.

“Nini…” He repeated, sounding as if hearing her name was a reminder to himself. Quickly, he cleared his throat, bringing his clammy hand up to his face and rubbing his forehead, “Yeah. Uh, I guess it’s about her.”

Gina tilted her head, the crease between her brows only becoming more prominent, “Are you sure about that?”

Their eye contact felt a little too personal, like the girl across from him was trying to figure him out and read his mind (and God help him if she really did have that ability). It felt like she was staring straight into his soul, so Ricky turned his head over to where Nini and Elias stood across the room.

They had planted themselves against a pillar next to the front desk, where Elias leaned against the fixture while Nini laughed at whatever he was talking about. The brunette looked up at him with soft eyes, a big grin plastered on her face. 

Ricky frowned slightly. As if things could get more confusing, they just got way more confusing. 

He felt a longing to be over there with his ex, but something felt different. Maybe he was jealous, maybe he wasn’t. But he continued to look at them intently, as if he were trying to convince himself that he wanted to take Elias’ place. 

He just couldn’t figure out what was going on up there in his brain. So, he settled on the fact that he really did want to be over there with Nini. But he didn’t just settle, he built a whole fucking town on this in order to push whatever strange feelings he was having for Gina out of his system completely. 

Suddenly there was a hand waving in front of Ricky’s face, “Yo, dude? You’ve been staring at them for, like, way too long.” Big Red whispered-yelled at the boy.

“Shit–” Ricky mumbled, turning his head to the group, his eyes meeting Gina’s for a split second. “I don’t know. I’m really freaking out about Nini.”

It’s not all a lie because right now he really was freaking out about Nini.

“Why?” EJ asked.

“Because. We have two fucking days left and look at her!” Everyone’s gaze followed his flailing hands.

“Whoa, Ricardo, chill.” Red said, looking away from the subject of the conversation and to his best friend. “You still have time.” He added, shrugging his shoulders.

The frown stayed on his lips as he ignored Gina’s gaze. “You still have until the end of the graduation, Ricky. Even the best rest of the summer maybe… you’ve got the time.” Ashlyn reminded him.

He sighed audibly, “I can’t have Gina pretending to be my girlfriend through next week and obviously not through the summer, though. That wasn’t a part of our deal.” His eyes traveled over to her, where she was staying quiet.

Her blank, unreadable, face remained still for a moment before she cracked a strained laugh, “Yeah… There’s no way you’re getting me to help you through next week, sorry, Bowen.”

He chuckled lightly in response, though the little voice in his head was reminding him that he and Gina didn’t have much more time. 

Then, EJ spoke, cutting his thoughts short. “It’s not like you’re never going to see Nini again. Weren’t you two best friends before you dated?”

“Yup. And I was always their third wheel.” Red said, a proud smile on his face, which received a glare from his best friend.

“Okay… so just go back to being best friends. You two will fall back into your old habits eventually.” The water-polo captain went on. The guy did make a valid point, but when they got together in the first place, it had felt like they could never go back to being best friends. There would always be that weirdness there.

“Well, if Nini really wanted to be my friend again, I’m sure it would’ve happened by now.” He replied, glancing over his shoulder once more at his ex. He returned his gaze back to his friends, still avoiding a pair of certain brown eyes, “Shit. I don’t know… we have two more days le–”

“Exactly.” Gina finally spoke, which made Ricky’s head snap into her direction. Their eyes met and, of course, he felt the warmth return to his stomach. She continued, looking at the other members of the group, “We still have two more days. Your timer isn’t up… so stop freaking out.”

Ricky nodded his head slowly, fiddling with the loose string that fell from the hem of his t-shirt, “Yeah, uh—sorry, sorry, I guess it’s just all catching up to me.”

“Dude, don’t stress right now. Everything will magically work itself out.” Big Red patted Ricky on the back, sending him a reassuring smile in the process. Once Ricky returned the smile with a nod, his best friend turned to the rest of the group and clapped his hands together, “ Speaking of magic… who’s ready for our flight?”

“What does magic have to do with our flight?” Gina asked.

“Pfft—what does magic have to do with our flight? ” Big Red mimicked Gina, high-pitched voice and all, a sarcastic laugh bubbling in his chest. He looked to Ricky to see if his friend was picking up on his drift, but he was confused as hell. The redhead’s laugh faded, “A plane? That’s flying in the air… literally magic.”

The group fell quiet. “You do know that planes aren’t really magic… right?” EJ asked, his face encompassing a concerned look. 

Red paused for a moment, looking over to Ricky with wide eyes.

“Right?” EJ asked again.

Big Red laughed, seeming a bit distressed, “Duh… I was totally kidding!”

Ricky chuckled at his friend’s terrible acting, glancing over to Gina, who looked like she was holding in her laugh. 

And then their conversation took another turn. EJ and Ashlyn were discussing their families plans for their grand joint graduation party, and how Gina had to come back to Salt Lake for it because it basically was for her too since, after all, she’s an honorary Caswell. 

Ricky made comments here and there about how Gina had to come back to their hometown for this party. The party just wouldn’t be the same without her… for the Caswells, obviously. 

The group of teenagers were knee deep in their discussion over their summer plans when Miss Jenn had done the classic “clap once if you can hear me” bit, as if they were all in middle school. 

Their attention turned to the chaperones who discussed a rough outline of their itinerary for the day: Say goodbye to Prague, catch their flight, and say hello to Paris.

━━━━━━

The entire ride to the airport was mostly filled with small talk between the pair, and Ricky felt a little more at ease. No matter what, he and Gina were friends and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Even some strange, uninvited feelings on Ricky’s part. 

He gladly listened as Gina gushed over how excited she was about visiting Paris since it had always been one of her dreams. Everything about the city fascinated her: the food, the language, but not so much the people (because apparently French people are rude).

She just seemed so enthusiastic about it and it only made Ricky more excited to visit the infamous city. 

And before they knew it, they were arriving at the airport, passports and luggage in hand and going through Czech customs. Their entire group's check-in only took about a half an hour since the airport was not super busy.

Now, they had an hour to spare before boarding. Everyone split off into small groups and took off into different parts of the airport to grab something to eat.

After Ashlyn and Big Red ran to get each of them a bagel, Ricky had turned to Gina with a sideways grin on his face, “I need coffee.”

She rolled her eyes in return, “Let me guess? No sleep?”

“It’s crazy how well you know me, Porter. Red was playing this thunderstorm setting last night on his CPAP and I couldn’t fall asleep for, like, an hour.” Ricky explained. It partly wasn’t a lie, because Big Red really did play the thunderstorm setting, but was he going to tell her that he couldn’t fall asleep because of their late night conversation and text messages? Obviously not.

“Well, that, and I’m a growing boy that hasn’t had coffee in two days,” he added, “my body craves it. It runs through my veins.”

“So dramatic.” She mumbled and then without much protest, they started walking down the terminal to the nearest cafe that they could find.

The fake couple had stumbled upon a small yet completely overpriced coffee shop in the middle of the airport. The line was long and travelers filled the line’s queue as they waited to place their order. 

“Are you going to get anything?” Ricky asked as they got in line.

“I might get a matcha latte, but I’m not sure.”

“A matcha latte? That stuff tastes like grass!”

“God, what is up with you and all the food I like? And just because it’s green does not make it taste like grass.” Gina argued, crossing her arms to her chest.

“Wrong. I tried Red’s once because he’s obsessed with matcha because it’s, like, good for digestion or some shit and it was probably the worst experience of my life.”

“I stand corrected, you’re so dramatic.”

“I am not dramatic, I’m just an honest person.”

Gina shook her head in response, “Maybe I will get a matcha latte.”

“All to spite me. Real classy, Porter.” He joked as the two moved up in line, while she rolled her eyes in response. She took her phone out then, saying something about having to text her mom, and Ricky’s eyes lingered on her for a few moments.

He had almost forgotten his whole freak out this morning, but then as he looked at her with her intent gaze and long lashes, he was suddenly reminded of just why he was freaking out. He was staring at her and butterflies were rising to his stomach - that was exactly why he was freaking out.

She looked up from her phone and met his eyes, catching him in the act, and almost immediately the heat rushed to his cheeks. He could tell that she knew that he was staring at her, but didn’t say anything.

She hummed, her lips turning upwards slightly, “So, do you have to get your dad a magnet? Or was that what you got yesterday?”

“Huh?” His brows furrowed in confusion.

She tilted her head, “The magnet you’re getting your dad from every city…”

Oh. The magnet.

His cheeks burned even deeper, “Uh, no—no… I got one yesterday, remember? From the antique shop.” 

“Ah.” She nodded her head, not seeming thoroughly convinced, but Ricky was thankful that she didn't pry any further on the topic. 

He chewed on his bottom lip as they fell into silence again, and he felt like he had somehow just made things weird between them again. He had just got caught staring at her and was clearly lying through his teeth about the magnets. 

The plan he had was simple. Focus on Nini and all these weird ass feelings will go away. Maybe he just needed to focus on Nini a little more. 

He cleared his throat, “What do you think Nini is doing right now?”

Gina looked up at him, her eyes widening slightly, “No idea… she’s probably with her boyfriend.”

“Right. Duh.” Ricky swallowed, looking everywhere but Gina. And that’s when he saw her, standing across the terminal, waiting in line at the restaurant with her boyfriend standing right next to her. They were with EJ and Kourtney, who seemed to be deep in conversation. 

“Oh—shit.” He said a little too loudly, which gained more eyes than just Gina’s. “There she is.”

“Where?” Gina asked, looking around the terminal.

“There.” He pointed over to the restaurant diagonally across from them. “See them in line?”

“Yeah, I do.” She replied, looking up at him, her eyes lingering on him for a moment as if she was trying to figure out why he was so bothered by this right now. 

He looked back at her. Her brown eyes were too intense for his liking and it felt like she was trying to read his mind once again. He felt his stomach twist and quickly looked away from her.

“What’s up with you, Bowen? You’ve been acting kind of weird all day and it’s only ten in the morning.” Gina turned to him fully, crossing her arms. She paused, “Did I… do something?”

He knew she was referring to last night. Wasn’t there an unspoken rule to just not talk about their vulnerable moments?

Ricky’s lips parted, and he shook his head vigorously, “No! You didn’t do anything wrong! I already told you… it’s Nini. I know you all tried to help earlier but I just really hope we’re not doing this for nothing.”

“You’re still freaking out about her?” Gina crossed her arms, cocking a brow. Ricky focused his gaze on Nini and Elias, who were standing in line for the coffee shop. The blonde now had his arm draped around Nini’s shoulders tightly, which made Ricky slightly uncomfortable.

Ricky tore his eyes away from them, throwing his arms up in the air for dramatics, “Yes! She’s over there happily galavanting with her supermodel-like boyfriend and not paying any attention towards us.”

“She doesn’t always have to be concerned with us, you know.” 

Of course he knew that. He was just trying to get his head back on straight, and if that meant hyperfixating on Nini for the time being… then so be it.

“Bowen, stop bugging out. She was super jealous yesterday. Even more than she had been earlier in the week.”

He frowned slightly, peaking over towards her again, then mumbled, “Well, she’s not jealous now.”

Gina crossed her arms and her lips curved downwards into a small frown. He knew he was annoying her by bringing up Nini every few seconds, but he didn’t know what else to do. Last night really sent him for a whirlwind.

The girl across from him glanced over at their two classmates and back to Ricky. He could see her gears turning as she bit down on her lip and continued to glance over at the couple.

And all of a sudden she laughed out loud, quite literally out loud, enough for a certain ex-girlfriend across the terminal to hear, slapping her hand on Ricky’s chest and leaning into him as she laughed. 

Ricky was taken aback, and laughed awkwardly at whatever the hell she was doing. Her giggle was almost contagious, so it really wasn’t hard to go along with. 

“What the hell are you doing?” He said through his laugh, looking down at her as she looked across the airport. 

She looked up at him with a smile, “Making sure your ex is looking. Obviously.”

“Well… is she?”

“Yes. Don’t look!” She hissed, hitting his chest playfully, laughing as she did so. She peaked over once more, before looking up at the curly haired boy. “You promise not to freak out?”

“Uh… okay.”

Gina exhaled audibly and shut her eyes closed before she started to lean in as if she were going to kiss him. Ricky’s heart leaped in his chest and instantly his hands shot up, grabbing her shoulders, stopping her from what she was doing, “Whoa, whoa—what are you doing?”

“Going to kiss you, idiot.”

Ricky swallowed, looking around, “We’re in the middle of the airport!”

“Yes, but I really don’t want to hear you complain all day about you know who.” Gina whispered, taking a step forward to make whatever was happening look convincing.

His lips parted due to their close proximity, just enough that he could smell the scent of her strawberry… perfume? Shampoo? Body wash? Whatever it was she used, he prayed that she never stopped using it. 

Even the thought of kissing Gina for the second time made Ricky’s heart beat untamed against his chest.

Half of him was screaming to run away, to not put on a brave face and kiss Gina like it didn’t mean anything. The other half of him was jumping with joy at the thought of kissing her again—he wanted to kiss her, hell, her lips had been on his mind more than he’d care to admit the past few days, but then in the back of his mind he remembered what she had said last night about the second kiss being the most important. He didn’t want to take that away from her.

“But you said…” He trailed.

Her brown eyes stared up at him intensely before she whispered, “I know what I said.”

His brows furrowed slightly, opening his mouth to say something else, but he fell short of saying anything. His mind was blanking and his mouth was dry as he struggled to find the strength to tell her no. 

Gina’s eyes scanned over his face, noticing his inner conflict. She paused for a moment, before softly saying, “Kiss me.”

Ricky inhaled sharply upon hearing the words and he swore in that moment that his heart decided to skip a beat. Throwing all of his worries out the window, he brought his hands up, cupping Gina’s cheeks, and kissed her with absolutely no hesitation. 

As she kissed him back almost instantly, he felt her small hands curl around his wrists, sending electricity down his spine and causing his heart to flutter in his chest all at once. Gina leaned into him, as a way to get closer and deepen the kiss, so much that their bodies were pressed together—fitting like two puzzle pieces. 

Her lips were soft and delicate, just like Ricky had remembered from their first, and it was enough to make his knees go weak. This kiss was a lot more sure than their last, not as nervous and shocking, but more bold and confident. It was sweet, yet passionate, and Ricky couldn’t get enough. He could kiss her for days without getting bored.

Once they had let go, Ricky felt like all the air had been knocked out of him. His eyes remained shut for a few moments while he held onto and savored their kiss, not ready to let go of the feeling just yet.

He had kissed Nini countless times, but it never felt like this. 

And just like that, all his strange and unusual feelings for Gina came flooding back, knocking whatever progress he had made out of his system. This wasn’t something he could just turn off and he didn’t know if he would ever be able to, especially now.

His heart was slamming inside his chest when he opened his eyes to meet her soft gaze and her lips parted ever-so slightly. Her cheeks were tainted pink and her lips swollen from the contact, all of which caused all of the blood to rush to Ricky’s face for the millionth time. 

As if time had stopped right there, just for a moment, he almost forgot where they were. It was easy to forget that complete strangers surrounded them and it wasn’t just the two of them, it was easy to forget the circumstance of their kiss just by the way Gina was looking back at him with those beautiful brown eyes.

He was breathless, and so was she, and he really had no idea what to say. And then something clicked, his mind drifting back to the reason they had kissed in the first place. Nini.

“Is…” Ricky swallowed, his voice hoarse, “is she looking?”

Gina’s face faltered for a split second, releasing his wrists from her grasp, before her eyes wandered in the opposite direction. Ricky frowned slightly at the loss of contact, glancing down at his wrists and then watched her with narrow eyes as she glanced across the airport for a moment too long. 

She cleared her throat, “Um, I’m pretty sure she saw… She keeps biting her nails and like—wait, now she’s looking. Looks kind of pissed too.”

“Oh… cool.” Oh, cool? Should that be your reaction to your ex (who you want back) being jealous? Pack it up, Ricky.

“Yeah.” Gina responded shortly, taking a small step back, releasing herself from his touch. “Mission accomplished.”

Ricky’s judgement may be clouded from what had just happened, but the gap between them now felt like there were miles between them. It felt strange, just like their first kiss, like something had shifted again. 

There was a long silence between the two of them and while he was about to say something, Gina pressed her lips into a thin line and avoided his gaze. She then clicked her tongue, “I’m going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be back.”

She took off almost too quickly in the direction of the bathroom and Ricky couldn’t even remind her that they were almost next in line to order. So he stood there, letting out an audible sigh and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He even made eye contact with the man next to him, who had a judging glare on his face. 

One of the reasons Ricky hated PDA. 

As the line continued to move, Ricky’s veins were still pumping with adrenaline from the kiss that he and Gina had just shared. He felt lightheaded almost, his hands were sweaty and his heart still moved at a steady fast pace in his chest. 

The feelings that came whenever they shared a kiss were too much to handle. There was a part of him that screamed “Why the actual hell did you just do that?” because of the emotions and the fear a kiss between them stirs up. 

There were plenty of other ways to make Nini jealous. But a kiss? A kiss was something much more intimate, personal and meaningful. Especially between Ricky and Gina. 

And then a small part of him wondered if Gina had secretly been wanting to kiss him again too, partly because of the slight confirmation that she didn’t regret their first last night, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t regret this one. Ricky never meant to steal her first two kisses, but Gina had always been the one to initiate it. 

The high from the kiss still hadn’t settled once he got up to order. He ordered the drinks (while receiving concerned looks from the barista due to his pale face and poor English at that moment) and then waited for the drinks and for Gina to come back from the restrooms.

After the order was ready and he had the drinks in his hand, Ricky chewed nervously on his cheek as he continued to wait for Gina’s return. Was their kiss just a huge mistake? Was everything ruined? God, did she hate him? 

He felt sick as the minutes began to pass by. 

He was about to go search the entire airport up and down for Gina, until he heard her laugh fill his ears. His entire frame turned around in the direction of her laugh and his gaze rested on her through the sea of strangers, and immediately his body relaxed. She was accompanied by Ashlyn and Big Red, who had their food in their hands.

They all approached him, but his eyes immediately went to Gina, who seemed to be avoiding his gaze. 

“Hey, man.” Red greeted, causing Ricky to look over at him. The redhead’s brows furrowed, “You good? You look like you’re going to puke.”

Thanks, dude.

He laughed it off, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Big Red nodded, then held up the bag in his hand, “We’ve come bearing food.”

“Hell yeah. I’m starving.” Ricky replied, a grin on his face to hide the growing knot in his stomach. He swallowed and turned to Gina, who looked slightly alarmed by this, and held out her drink, “Your green juice, ma’am.”

She stared at him for a moment, then glanced down at the drink and took it from his hands with a small smile, “Thank you.”

Ricky was about to respond as an effort to make things not weird, but Big Red began to say something, “Wait—the matcha isn’t even Ricky’s?” He frowned, turning to Gina, “I thought he was being adventurous for once.”

“Nope.” Gina shook her head. “He insisted he was getting a coffee and that matcha tastes like grass.”

“It does.” Ricky stated, shrugging as he sipped on his overly sweet coffee.

“It literally doesn’t. How do you even know what grass tastes like?” Ashlyn laughed, shaking her head.

“You’re telling me that in your 17 years of life, you haven’t thought “hm, I wonder what grass tastes like…” and haven’t tried it?” 

“No, Ricky, I can’t say I have.” Ashlyn said, trying to hold back her laugh as she exchanged concerned glances with her best friend.

“I have. I think I ate a lot of grass when I was a kid.” Big Red said nonchalantly, a proud smile on his face. 

Ricky clapped his hands together, “You get me, Big Red.”

“But,” the redhead began, raising his pointer finger in the air, “matcha tastes nothing like grass. Completely different.”

Gina giggled and Ricky turned his head to look at her, and their eyes met, which made him feel all fuzzy inside. He was about to respond to his friend, but his train of thought left as soon as he heard her laugh. 

And then Gina broke their eye contact and sighed loudly, “Can we eat? I’m starving.”

Ricky's lips turned downward into a frown and he looked towards his other friends, rocking on his heels and said, “Let’s do it.”

The group spent the rest of the hour eating their food and gossiping about their classmates' other drama that Big Red somehow knew all about. It gave Ricky time to decompress and get all the madness off his mind for just under an hour. 

After they ate, they all made their way to their respective gate and impatiently waited for their flight to board. Though he and Gina were interacting as normal, Ricky could still feel the growing tension between the pair. He had no idea how to make it go away, especially since their kiss had been in the back of his mind ever since it happened. 

The hour had finally come to an end and it was time for everyone to board their flight to Paris. Ricky could feel the buzz of excitement through his classmates as they made their way onto the plane and got seated for takeoff. 

After a small argument about who would sit in the window seat, Ricky had finally given in and let Gina sit there. But once they sat down and waited for the plane to take off, the silence between them was almost deafening. 

So, Ricky turned to her with a sideways smile, “Just think, Porter, in two whole hours we will be in France.”

She glanced over at him and paused for a moment, a sparkle in her eye that only he could catch, “Can’t wait.”

That small little statement and the slight smile tugging at her lips gave him enough assurance that they were going to be okay. Two kisses and some weird feelings weren’t going to get in the way of their friendship and rest of their trip. 

Right?

━━━━━━

Paris was something out of a movie.

As soon as he stepped foot out of the airport and onto French soil, it felt like he had been transported straight into a film. They had only been there for less than a half hour and the city was everything that he had ever imagined, but not at the same time. 

What made him even more excited than he already was, was that Gina had been ecstatic ever since their flight was descending into Paris. It almost allowed him to forget everything from earlier that day, even the fact that the two of them hadn’t spoken more than five words to each other on the flight.

While on the bus ride to the hotel, Ricky’s eyes were glued to the city outside the glass window. It was huge, much bigger than his hometown, maybe a little smaller than London or Berlin, but there was something new and beautiful around every street corner.

It was nearly one in the afternoon when they were checking into their seemingly historic hotel, which was not to mention had to be the nicest place they’ve stayed thus far. They were told it was a few miles down the road from the Eiffel Tower, and if they were lucky, a few of the students may have a view of the famous landmark from their room’s window. 

Once everyone checked in, each pair of roommates headed up to their designated rooms for a half hour of rest before they went exploring throughout the city. 

During their elevator ride up to their floor, Big Red had challenged Ricky to see who would be the fastest to get to their room. And when the elevator doors opened… let’s just say, there was a lot of shoving, cuss words thrown around, judging glances from their classmates. But ultimately, a certain redhead had gotten to their door first (even though Ricky insisted he got a head start out of the elevator—he didn’t). 

After arguing with Red for a few minutes over his loss, the curly haired boy fell back onto his bed, sinking into the mattress almost immediately. He glanced up at his best friend, “Holy shit. It’s like I’m laying on a cloud.”

With that statement, Big Red belly-flopped onto his bed with a satisfied groan, “You got that right.”

The two stayed like that for a few moments until Red’s phone buzzed and the boy basically lunged for it. 

“I think it’s time you spill.” Ricky said, propping himself up on his elbows as he referred to his best friends’ secret romance.

Big Red sighed audibly, “Dude.”

“Come onnnn,” Ricky whined, his lips turning into a frown. “This is so not fair, you know every aspect of my love life and I don’t even know the guy that you’re clearly whipped for.” 

“I just don’t want to mess it up, you know that.”

“Dude, telling me will not mess things up, okay?” Ricky said in a serious tone. “The two of you are texting basically every waking minute, hell, you have inside jokes… I’d say it’s meant to be.”

“But you and Nini didn’t have any inside jokes.” Big Red reminded the boy.

“Dude. I don’t think that matters right now.” He did not want to talk about Nini. He sighed, “I don’t know, Red, but you’ve seemed really happy this past week and I just want to know the guy who’s making you this happy. I don’t give a flying shit if I don’t like the guy. I’d like him for your sake.”

This was all true. He hadn’t seen his best friend this happy in a very long time and it was really beginning to suck that he was keeping this big of a secret from him. If Big Red was happy, then Ricky was happy. It’s just that simple.

He could see the boy’s gears turning as he stared at the comforter in front of him. After a while, he sat up, and let out a huge sigh, “God, you promise not to give me shit?”

Ricky sat up quickly, almost falling off the bed, “Oh shit—you’re actually going to tell me?”

“Yes! Now promise me, dude.”

“I promise you, Noah – Big Red – Redonovich the Third, to not give you shit.” 

And then Big Red mumbled something completely inaudible. 

“You’re gonna have to say it a little louder than that, buddy.”

Big Red’s face twisted and then he mumbled something again, receiving a disapproving look from Ricky.

He crossed his arms to his chest, letting out an audible sigh, “It’s… Howie.”

Ricky stared at him for a moment, as if he was trying to see if his best friend was joking or not, but the boy was indeed not joking. “Howie? Like Howie from work? The same Howie that you said you hated a month ago? That same Howie?”

Big Red fell back onto the bed, covering his face with his hands, “Dude! You promised not to give me shit!”

Ricky’s jaw fell slack while he processed the information. He got up from his bed and sat next to his best friend on his bed, “Dude, I’m not giving you any shit, I promise! It’s just surprising, that’s all. The two of you just never seemed that friendly towards each other.”

Big Red looked up, seeming as if he was relieved. 

“When did it happen? How did it happen?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged bashfully. “I guess it was all of the late nights that we closed together. There was this one night where we were just messing around, eating leftover pizza and dancing around the shop shouting the lyrics to One Direction songs and… I just realized how great he is.”

Ricky smiled fondly at his best friend as he described his relationship with his coworker. He was blushing and his eyes were bright with admiration, and Ricky just loved this for his best friend, “Ah, Howie knew the key to your heart - pizza and One Direction. Add in some weed and the two of you will be married in a week.”

Red chuckled lightly, “Shut up.”

Ricky stood up, patting his friend on the shoulder, “I’m happy for you, Red. Seriously, like, over the moon happy for you. I can’t wait to be your third wheel once we get back home.” 

“I don’t know, man, you might have your own date to the shop when we get back home.”

“I do have to get Gina a slice of your pizza once we’re back. You know she’s never had Redonovich’s?” He replied, strolling over to his backpack and rummaging through it, looking for his phone charger. 

Big Red paused, “I wasn’t talking about Gina.”

Ricky froze for a second and stared down at his backpack before turning back around to look at his best friend. He shrugged nonchalantly, though he felt a knot prominent in his stomach, “I know… all this talking about your pizza place just got me thinking that Gina’s never tried it.”

Red pursed his lips, “Right.”

“Obviously if Nini wants me back, we’ll get a slice together.” Ricky swallowed, grabbing his charger and heading over to the nearest outlet.

“Obviously.” Big Red replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ricky focused on plugging his phone into his charger as he could feel his best friend’s eyes on his back. The boy let out a deep breath and looked at the time, “Wanna play some Fortnite? We have 15 minutes until we have to be downstairs and I want to hear all about Howie.” He really hoped that his good friend would drop the topic of conversation.

“We just talked about him!” Big Red exclaimed, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. “But yeah, I’m down.”

And so they played Fortnite on their phones together for the remaining 15 minutes. Ricky made sure to bombard his best friend with as many questions about his relationship with Howie, mostly because he was excited for his friend, but also because he needed to avoid the conversation taking a turn. 

Once they made their way downstairs and met with their groups, it was time to venture into the city. Since their hotel was located in the heart of Paris, there was no need for them to load onto a bus. 

After the chaperones told them to meet back at the hotel for dinner, the teenagers made their way outside and headed off in separate directions. 

Ricky walked down the street with his group, not really engaging in the conversation that was taking place between everyone. He still had a small nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach which he equated to his kiss with Gina from earlier. 

He still couldn’t get her and his lips off of his mind, even though he tried so hard. The time with Big Red had helped him, but as soon as he laid his eyes on Gina again, his stomach filled with nervous butterflies and his cheeks flared with heat. He just didn’t get it.

Carlos trailed behind Ricky and Gina while Nini and Elias led the way down the sidewalk. After a few minutes, Ricky had turned to Gina, “Guess what.”

“What?” She tilted her head curiously.

“Red told me who mystery guy is.”

“Seriously?” She replied excitedly.

“Yup. Turns out it’s one of his coworkers—his name’s Howie.”

“Oh my God… I’m so happy he finally told you.” Gina gushed, leaning into him slightly as they walked down the street. He didn’t know if it was just for effect, but he liked the feeling. It felt nice. 

He smiled down at her, “Yeah, so am I. Even though I basically had to gut the information out of him.”

Her nose scrunched up, but she laughed anyway. He continued to tell her more about his best friend’s new relationship as their group stopped at various sites on the random Parisian street. 

15 minutes later, everyone had decided that they should get some food and Carlos had brought up a restaurant that his cousin had recommended they go to. 

“Are you all down to go there?” Carlos asked once they all stopped, turning to all of them. “I read that they have some of the best pastries in all of Paris.”

“Hell yeah!” Elias agreed. “I could go for some pastries.”

“Okay! That sounds great.” Nini beamed, a smile forming on her lips. 

Gina grabbed Ricky’s hand, intertwining their fingers firmly, “ Actually, R and I were planning on having our lunch at Chez Pitou. I kind of want him all to myself for the day… I mean come on, it's Paris! Do you think we could just split off from you guys and meet back later?”

He was taken by surprise by this whole thing she had come up with on the spot. Was that even an actual restaurant? 

Not to mention he could feel Nini burning a hole in the side of his head. It was much more intense than usual and almost made him uncomfortable. He glanced over to her and she had a slight glare on her face as she leaned into her boyfriend.

Nini’s eyes met Ricky’s briefly. Her posture straightened up as looked between him and Gina, “Isn’t there a point to staying in a group?”

“As long as we meet back together later… there’s not really a problem.” Gina responded, tilting her head at the girl. “There’s not a problem, is there?”

Ricky felt beyond uncomfortable. Could he just run away? Was that an option?

Carlos clicked his tongue, “I don’t mind, it allows me to spend less time with Ricky.” 

Ricky sent Carlos a knowing glare, even though he knew the boy was just trying to ease the tension. 

“Of course not.” She responded curtly, ignoring Carlos’ input, her face twisting into a sour expression. “Go for it.”

Elias glanced down at her and looked to be biting his tongue, before looking back over to Gina, “Just meet us back here in like an hour, yeah?”

“Don’t want Miss Jenn and Mazzara to have to punish the two of you.” Carlos warned jokingly. 

Ricky could have sworn he heard Nini mumble something under her breath, but he chose to ignore it and wrapped his arm around Gina’s shoulders, their hands still intertwined.

Ricky paused for a second and then nodded his head, “Sick. We’ll see you in an hour!”

As they were all about to turn around and head in the opposite direction, Nini quickly said, “Have fun on your date. ” And it didn’t sound genuine in the slightest.

Everyone, not just Ricky, was taken aback. Carlos’ jaw was basically on the ground and Ricky couldn’t even describe the look on Elias’ face. 

He even felt Gina tense slightly underneath him. She bit the inside of her cheek and plastered a sweet smile on her lips, “Oh we will.”

And then she practically dragged Ricky away from them with no goodbyes or anything of the sort. The curly haired boy really wasn’t sure what to say, he was extremely surprised at whatever had just happened.

“God, Nini’s jealousy was really shining through today.” She had finally said after a few minutes of walking in complete silence and Ricky’s arm was still firmly wrapped around her shoulders.

“Yeah… it was definitely something.” He responded.

Gina looked up at him, tilting her head, “You don’t seem very happy about it.”

His cheeks flushed, “Pfft–of course I’m happy about it! Why wouldn’t I be happy about it?”

She eyed him for a moment before looking back down at the sidewalk, “Okay, just didn’t really seem like it, that's all.”

Ricky pressed his lips into a thin line, shrugging his shoulders and decided to not say anything else. After a while, he turned to look at Gina, removing his arm from her shoulders, “So, is this Chez Plateau place a real thing? Or is coming up with random names of French restaurants on the spot one of your many talents?”

She rolled her eyes at his mispronunciation, “Of course it’s a real place. I did my research, Bowen.”

“I never doubted you for a second.” He raised his hands in defense playfully. 

She hummed, turning to him fully, “It is just one of the restaurants I saw online, that’s true, but I don’t actually know anything about it. Or if it’s good. I just didn’t want to hang out with our group.”

A smile spread across his lips, “You get me. Spending more than twenty minutes with them is just...”

“ Horrible? Suffocating? Boring?”

“All of the above.” He nodded.

The two fell in silence whilst they admired the scenery around them. After a while, Ricky turned to Gina, clearing his throat, “So what should we do?”

“Walk around and see where the wind takes us?”

And they did just that. They fell back into their rhythm easily and it was enough for Ricky to forget all his strange feelings just for a little while. It was just so easy with Gina; he was fully himself with her, unlike with anyone else in his life, and they have this… unspoken connection.

They got each other.

They walked and walked, talking about everything under the sun, until they stumbled upon a food stand with an incredibly long line on the side of a buzzing street. 

“Bowen, do you like crepes?” Gina asked, turning to him, her brows raising.

“Depends on what kind.” He shrugged.

She rolled her eyes, “How could I forget how picky you are? But, we’re getting crepes. No ifs, ands or buts about it.” 

“But–” 

“I said no buts!”

Ricky couldn’t help but let the chuckle escape past his lips, “Haha… you said butts twice.”

He noticed the smile she was fighting to hide, “You’re annoying, you know that?”

“No, I had no idea, actually.” He joked and sent a cheeky smile her way. 

She ignored him and his efforts to get under his skin, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the line for the food vendor. The line seemed to move quickly, considering there were only two people working the food cart. 

By the time they made it up to order, their hands were still clasped together tightly. Ricky pretended not to notice, just so he could hold her hand for a little longer. He didn’t know why, but he liked the way their hands fit together. Whenever he would hold Nini’s hand, it usually wouldn’t last for long because he always became uncomfortable with the way she held his hand too tight. 

Their hands broke apart once their crepes were ready (much to Ricky’s dismay), but he acted as if he didn’t notice, then the two left the stand and started strolling down the street with their food. 

Eventually, the pair spotted a park not too far from the crepe stand. The park was small, but undeniably beautiful; it was right in the middle of four apartment buildings, which seemed to trap the park in completely. There was a foundation placed neatly in the middle of the square, the grass was a vibrant green color… it was something special. 

Gina led the way to an uninhabited park bench, which sat underneath a row of trees, overlooking the square’s fountain. 

“So Red and this guy, Howie, right?” Gina started as the two sat down. Ricky nodded. “Did you expect it at all to be him?”

He shook his head, “No way. They joke around all the time at work and make fun of each other to no end… Howie was probably the last person on my list for the guys I thought Big Red would go for.”

“Who was first?” Gina asked, unwrapping her crepe (lemon-cremé, which Ricky made fun of her ordering not too long before).

“Honestly? He said I’d give him hell for it so I thought, like, I don’t know, maybe EJ?”

“EJ?” Gina sputtered out laughing. 

“Okay, listen, hear me out! I know he’s into Kourtney, but who else would I have to guess? They had some classes together and Red and I would actively make fun of the guy for being in theater and being captain of the water polo team. And class president. No offense—obviously.”

“Oh wow.” She responded through her fit of giggles, which warmed Ricky’s stomach. “I guess that’s valid. And I’m obviously going to ignore the fact that you made fun of EJ.”

“Hey, you know the dude’s got a lot going for him. It’s easy to make fun of him to make up for my lack thereof.” 

“Oh stop, you have a lot going for you.” Gina nudged him.

“Tons.” He responded, sarcasm evident in his voice, while he finally unwrapped his crepe. 

The girl beside him scoffed, “Seriously, Bowen, you do! You’re super smart even if your grades don’t reflect it, you’re a pro at skating, you’re crazy talented at the singing thing…”

“Still doesn’t beat Mr. EJ Caswell, who’s going to Duke. ” He shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter where EJ’s going to school, you know, you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to him. You’re you. You’re… occasionally funny, you’re kind and caring, even if you don’t want to admit it, you have this great mop of curls on your head,” she took one of his loose curls in between her fingers, “and you have a cute smile.”

She let go of his curl and retracted her hand back to her. Ricky felt his heart begin to speed up slightly and his smile grow bigger with every word she spoke. 

She looked back at him with her big brown eyes and Ricky, who’s cheeks flushed, grinned back at her, “So you think I’m cute?”

She rolled her eyes, her face turning red, “Oh shut up—that’s all you got from what I just said?”

“Yeah, actually, maybe you should keep going.” A playful smirk grew on his lips.

“You’re unbelievable.” She shoved him, shaking her head while a small laugh left her lips. 

“And I’m only occasionally funny? That hurts, Porter. It really hurts.”

“I have to be honest with you.” She shrugged. “And your jokes are just… bland.”

“My jokes are not bland!” He frowned, feigning offense.

“There’s just a point in your life where you have to admit to yourself that your jokes are only sometimes funny. And today is that day.” 

Ricky's lips turned into a pout as he stared at the fountain ahead of him. After a few moments, he looked back at Gina, who met him with a knowing look, “You know what would be humiliating?”

She tilted her head curiously.

“If Eiffel in Paris.”

He watched her carefully, a proud smile playing his lips as he waited for her reaction. She stared at him before chuckling softly, “There is no way you came up with that on your own.”

“I’m just a real good joke-teller, Porter. It’s time to admit that to yourself.” Or, maybe he had a very specific google search which involved the words funny + jokes + Paris open in his phone that he had searched for early that morning. 

The rest of their afternoon was spent eating their crepes and admiring the beauty of the city around them. Ricky had even snapped a few pictures of Gina, who was in the middle of chewing a mouthful of food, and posted one of the pictures to his Instagram story.

The caption read: “I like the crêpe out of you 🍯🧈🥐”

And before they knew it, it was time to meet back with the rest of their group. 

Gina stood up, a slight frown on her lips, “We’ve gotta get back.”

Ricky nodded in agreement, standing up from the bench, “Yeah.”

Gina looked around, “Do you know where we are?”

He also looked around, mirroring her actions, and clicked his tongue, “No freaking clue.”

“Do you know the hotel address by any chance?” She asked.

“Why would I know the hotel address?” 

“You’re right.” 

Ricky looked around the park again and sighed audibly, “We could just text the group our location and meet up somewhere…” he trailed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. And then he had an idea. “ Or, we could just not. I mean, at least until we have to meet back at the hotel for dinner.”

“Ricky Bowen, are you saying we risk getting in trouble rather than just texting our group?”

“What, it’s not like our group would tell on us. We’ve strayed away from them before.”

“Not so sure about that after earlier. Nini might tell on us.” Gina said half-jokingly. 

“She wouldn’t. She was probably just upset that they were stuck with Carlos the rest of the afternoon.” Ricky mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. He knew Nini was jealous, but he really didn’t want to think about that at the moment. 

“Mhmm.” Gina hummed in a knowing tone.  

He swallowed, his eyes lingering on her for a moment before he cleared his throat, “Where to?”

“Wherever the wind takes us.”

2:49pm

Elias: Hey, where are you guys?

Carlos: we’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes where the hell are u

Nini emphasized “we’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes where the hell are u”

3:01pm

Elias: Hey… we’re starting to get pretty nervous? Text us asap

Nini: hello ??? i’m sure your phones are working.

One Google Maps search and a ride on the Paris Métro later, Ricky and Gina had somehow found themselves in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

“It does not look like you’re holding it. Move it up just a little more.” Gina instructed Ricky, pointing at his left hand. The boy had the grand idea of getting a photo of him pretending to hold up the tower in his left hand. 

He moved his hand up, “Like this?” He asked through his teeth as he smiled for the camera.

She scrunched her nose in concentration and shook her head, “No, down a little more—wait stop!” She clicked the picture as he posed with the biggest grin on his face. 

“Did you get it?” He asked, his cheeks starting to hurt from smiling too long.

She put her phone down and nodded her head, “Yup. I got like twenty of them so I really hope one of them is good enough.”

“Sweet!” He exclaimed. “Send them to me?”

Once Gina sent them to him, the two decided to sit down on the grass and admire the view of the famous landmark. There were tons of tourists circling around them, taking group pictures, and heading towards the tower. 

The pair sat criss-cross across from each other in a comfortable silence as they enjoyed the energetic city life around them. And then, both of their phones buzzed at once and Ricky glanced down at his phone to see another text from their group. 

3:20pm

Carlos: well we’re going shopping just text us back

“Shouldn’t we answer them?” Gina asked, looking up from her phone. 

Ricky shrugged, “We’ll answer them later. Right now we’re just two people sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower. Not on a school trip.”

She hummed in response, a small smile on her lips, “I like it.” She said, then glanced up at the Eiffel Tower. “I really can’t believe we’re here… in Paris.”

After a moment, she glanced back at Ricky and continued, “I know I’ve said this a million times and I’ll say it a million times more but it’s always been a dream of mine to come here. When I was little, I had this dream to go see a ballet performance in Paris, you know, play dress up and sit on one of the balconies and just live.” She chuckled softly. “It’s all I would talk about with my mom when I would go to my ballet classes.”

He smiled fondly at her memories and glanced over at her. She always had this light in her eye when she talked about dance or her mom. Ricky hummed, “One day you’ll be able to live that dream out. You’re in Paris, you’re halfway there already.”

“Maybe in another life.”

Ricky’s eyes stayed on Gina for a while, watching her gently as she picked at the grass in front of her. It seemed like she really didn’t believe she would ever be in Paris again to see the ballet. He frowned slightly, and started to pick at the grass just like she was, and then said, “You know, I think it’s really cool how close you are with your mom.”

She looked up at him, a sparkle in her eye, “I can’t wait to see her again. Back when we lived together, most Tuesday nights, we’d pick a classic romcom to watch and have waffles for dinner and my mom promised me that we’d do that together once I get to New York just like we used to. I’m very excited.”

His lips curved upwards as he listened to her. He took a moment before responding, “Breakfast for dinner is something I can get behind. But a romcom? Nah.”

“I’m offended, Bowen. I think you’d love a good romcom.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’m adding one to the list. What do you think we should watch? A classic like Pretty Woman or a 2000s romcom? There’s so many to choose from…”

He grimaced at the thought of watching a romantic comedy, but shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever you think.” If watching a bunch of stupid romantic comedies makes Gina happy, then he’d do it.

“Or maybe we should pay homage to our roots and watch a fake dating romcom.”

“A fake dating romantic comedy? That’s a thing?” Ricky asked, his eyes filled with wonder. 

“Yup. Of course there is, it’s one of the best romcom tropes.” She chuckled.

“So… we’re basically living out our own romantic comedy is what you’re saying here.” Ricky nodded his head, gesturing between the two of them with his hand, a small smile on his lips as he noticed Gina’s eyes widen slightly. 

He noticed the flush in her cheeks as she looked down at her lap and began picking at the grass again, “Well, yeah, I guess… Except the part where we end up together.” 

His smile fell from his lips and suddenly they fell into a silence full of tension and Ricky couldn’t wrap his head around it. He felt weird and that most certainly was not what he wanted to hear, he didn’t know what he wanted to hear, but he knew it wasn’t that. He cleared his throat, “Uh, yeah—obviously.”

She glanced up at him. Their eyes met for a split second and Ricky felt a knot form in his stomach. He pressed his lips into a thin line, breaking their eye contact and cleared his throat, forcing out a chuckle, “I think we might have to split our movie marathon into two days. The list is getting pretty long.”

“Oh yeah. We might have to.” Her response was short and her voice sounded slightly distant. He wished he knew what she was thinking, he wished he knew what to say next to ease whatever tension was in the air… 

Instead, Gina was the one to speak next, “Tomorrow’s a busy day.” She said, which he assumed was a way to suck up all the tension. 

Ricky inhaled deeply, nodding his head, “Yeah we do. I think we’re gonna be as touristy a tourist can get in Paris.” He chuckled.

“Definitely.” Gina agreed. “The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower,” she nodded up to the structure right behind them, “Notre-Dame… you name it, we’re doing it.” 

“Yup.” Ricky chuckled, his eyes moving up to look at The Eiffel Tower. His stomach started to churn as he took in just how tall the structure really was, “Damn… that’s high.”

He felt Gina’s eyes on him for a moment before she glanced up at it too, and she sighed, “It’ll be okay, I promise. You really don’t have to go up there if you don’t want to. Nobody’s pressuring you.”

He looked back at her and shrugged, “I can’t just go to Paris and not go to the top of The Eiffel Tower, Porter. That’s like visiting New York and not visiting Times Square.”

“I guess.” She said, pausing for a moment, “I just don’t want you stressing about it.”

He sent her a half smile, “I’m good, really, at least for now. I can’t promise that I won’t be having a panic attack once we’re headed to the top, but I’m good.” 

The curly haired girl nodded her head and then hopped up from her sitting position, holding her phone out in front of her, “Can you get a picture of me? I want to send one to my mom.”

“I’m starting to think that you’re only spending time with me so I can take pictures of you.” He responded playfully, taking her phone from her grasp while he stood up from the grass.

She rolled her eyes, “That’s the only thing you’re useful for. Duh.” 

He stifled a laugh as he backed away from her and waited for her to begin posing for the camera. She smiled brightly at the camera and Ricky couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips as he looked at her through the phone screen.

He snapped about twenty different photos, making sure that there would be at least one to her liking, but he knew that all of them would be perfect. 

“Did you get one?” Gina asked, tilting her head sideways. 

“About twenty.” He responded, walking back up to her and holding her phone out.

The girl grabbed her phone and was about to say something else, but the pair of teenagers were approached by a middle aged woman with an inviting smile on her face.

“Would the two of you like a photo together?” The lady, seeming to have some type of accent—English? Australian?—greeted. 

Ricky and Gina both exchanged a glance before Gina nodded her head eagerly at the woman, “If you wouldn’t mind, that would be amazing.”

“Of course I wouldn’t mind! I was just sitting over there and couldn’t help but notice how adorable the two of you are.” The lady gushed sweetly. 

Ricky’s lips parted and he glanced over to Gina quickly, his eyes widening, “We’re not–”

“Aw, thank you! You’re too kind.” His fake girlfriend cut him off, plastering on her famous smile, and handing her phone to the stranger. She then laced her fingers with Ricky’s and pulled him a few feet away from the friendly stranger.

Normally, Ricky would dwell on the fact that the woman had been watching them for a while, which is incredibly weird, but now that the two were tangled together for a picture and Gina had just said they were a couple, he really didn’t have time to dwell on it.

She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and smiled brightly for the camera. Ricky smiled too, but underneath it all his mind was screaming that this was the closest they've been all day since their kiss in the airport. The smell of sweet strawberries invaded his senses, his skin burned where their hands touched, and his heart was beating loud.

The moment lasted less than ten seconds and was over the instant that Gina released his hand and went to retrieve her phone from the kind stranger. He didn’t know how such a small, insignificant task like posing for a picture could get him feeling so high. And how the moment being over could get him feeling low. 

He wished he could grab her hand and hold it without having to answer why. He wished that he could be that close to her all the time, but it just wasn’t an option when they were alone. 

They’re friends. That’s all they were. So, he locked those thoughts away and walked over to Gina to see how their photos came out.

4:11pm

Carlos: really hope the two of you are not dead in a perfectly mowed parisian ditch. 

Nini laughed at “really hope the two of you are not dead in a perfectly mowed parisian ditch.”

Carlos: it wasn’t meant to be funny nina 

Once the clock struck 4:30, the pair of teenagers had decided on heading back to their hotel (which, luckily, Ashlyn had sent Gina the address to). They began to make their way back based on what their Google Map GPS had directed them, when they decided to just not go back just yet. 

The night was still incredibly young and they knew if they had to go back to dinner, they’d be chained to whatever plans their chaperones had in store for them. They already had an incredible afternoon together, so what’s a few more hours?

4:47pm

Elias: Ok we’re heading back to the hotel for dinner… see you guys there then? Hopefully?

“Shouldn’t we send them at least one text back?” Gina asked Ricky as they walked down a street which led them to Champs-Élysées Avenue. On their way back to their hotel, after they had decided to skip out on dinner, Gina had the idea of visiting Paris’ most famous boulevard and Ricky couldn’t turn it down.

“Yeah, probably. Just one though, so they know we're not dead in a Parisian ditch.” He replied, chuckling at the memory of Carlos’ text from just under an hour ago.

His phone dinged and Gina smiled up at him proudly, “Just replied with a thumbs-up emoji. I think that’s efficient.”

“Ah shit, I should probably text Red to cover for us so Mazzara doesn’t have our asses handed to us on a silver platter when we get back.” 

5:02pm

Cover for us at dinner thanks !

??? Ok but where are you two your group is freaking out

Exploring Paris gotta go - see you later!

🙄 have fun without me!

After passing the Arc de Triomphe on their walk, they had finally made it to Champs-Élysées Avenue. The boulevard was incredibly overwhelming as it was littered with tourists, luxury shops, hotels, restaurants, and the pair of teenagers had no idea where to start. 

They walked and walked down the strip for what seemed like hours to Ricky. His feet hurt, his phone was running out of battery, but he was truly enjoying himself as they explored all of the shops and wonders that this small part of Paris had to offer. And Gina being with him only made it better.

It was nice having her all to himself. Yes, they’ve spent a majority of the trip together, but there was always someone around. Right now, they were allowed to just be Ricky and Gina, not Ricky and Gina: boyfriend and girlfriend, not Ricky and Gina: the fake couple, just them.

Soon they stumbled upon a souvenir shop that looked nothing but catered towards Americans, hence the red flashing sign titled: PARIS SOUVENIRS: T-SHIRTS, SWEATSHIRTS, GADGETS. How could you not go in there? 

Despite Gina’s pleas about how many souvenir shops that they had already visited, Ricky had convinced her to go in the store with him and check it out. They spent ten minutes in the shop and had emerged from the store with two shopping bags, each holding an oversized I ♥ PARIS t-shirt that Ricky had bought for the both of them. 

Just as they were about to go to dinner, Ricky’s phone vibrated and he pulled it out, instantly feeling a tight knot in his stomach as he read the name. Nini.

so u have time to post on instagram but not reply to our texts?

He scoffed, earning Gina’s eyes. He glanced over to her, debating whether or not he should tell her about it, but he decided against it. He shrugged, “It’s nothing, I promise.”

Her eyes lingered on him for a moment before she averted her eyes to the sidewalk in front of them. The boy turned back to his phone and chewed on his bottom lip nervously. 

She was obviously mad, yes. But was it really her place to say anything?

He started typing:

it’s really not a big deal nini 🤷 I’m having fun in Paris with my girlfriend like everyone else. 

A few moments after he sent the message, he saw the typing bubble appear on his screen and then disappear within seconds. He stared at their text conversation, wondering if she was going to respond, but then settled on the fact that she wasn’t going to answer.

Still, he stayed on her contact for a few moments longer, fighting the smallest urge to go look at their old text messages. And then suddenly, he shut his phone off and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“You okay?” Gina asked gently, pulling him away from his thoughts. 

He looked over at her and nodded, “Yeah, I’m good.”

They held their eye contact for a moment and Ricky knew that Gina was trying to get a read on him. Her gaze was soft, but intense and was enough to make his stomach fill with butterflies. After a minute, she nodded her head slightly and responded with a soft, “Okay.” 

As the night went on, Ricky found it easy to forget about Nini’s text message. He truly didn’t know what to make of it and didn’t want to worry about it, so he put it on the back burner. He was with Gina, and that’s what he wants to focus on. 

And so he did. The remainder of their evening was spent (still) trying to find a place to have dinner, which was filled with their usual banter that filled Ricky with so much joy. They eventually stumbled upon a small restaurant on the boulevard that didn’t look too intimidating for either of them. 

Just like their dinner back in Berlin, they shared four platters of different French cuisine between the two of them. Except, Ricky didn’t even try to touch the falafel. He had no idea what that was in the first place (even though Gina tried to explain it to him five times), nor did he care to find out what it tasted like. 

About halfway through their dinner, Ricky received a text from Big Red. 

7:38pm

Ashlyn and I are having ppl over in our room for a party. Got booze ! Are u and Gina going to be here soon?

We’ll probably be there within the next two hrs !!

I see where I stand </3

I’ll buy u all the hot Cheetos and weed u want for a week when we get home bro <3

Fine. 

just make sure ur here in two hours it was hard enough to convince Mazzara you were throwing up in our room and that he didn’t have to check up on you.

You got it man and thanks for that I really do appreciate it !

The rest of their dinner went by relatively quick and then the two decided to continue to go wherever the wind takes them for the next two hours. 

As they slowly made their way back to their hotel, they  found themselves walking alongside the Seine river as the evening started to bleed into the night and the sun began to set. 

Ricky had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans as they walked side by side in a comfortable silence down the riverside. He turned to look at her, a small smile creeping on his lips as he noticed the amazement in her eyes as she looked around the city, “It’s really pretty, isn’t it?”

She looked over at him and nodded, “It’s incredible.”

He smiled softly at her and she looked back at him with an equally as soft smile. Then, Ricky’s brows furrowed as he looked back at her, a small sense of worry creeping into his system. 

“Wait.” He halted, his face twisting into a look of concern. “Are you okay?”

Gina stopped a few feet in front of him and looked back with furrowed brows, “Yeah, why?”

“You look… pale.” He said.

“Pale?”

“Yes—pale.”

“That’s weird… I feel fine. I think.”

Ricky pursed his lips and scanned his eyes over her face, still feeling as if she was much more pale than she usually was. The red flush that usually was prominent on her cheeks was no longer there.

“Seriously, Bowen, I feel fine.”

“Okay. I was just making sure, I don’t know, you just look a bit paler than usual. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the lighting with the sun setting…” He rambled on.

She nodded and sent him a half smile, “I’m good.”

“You better be. I can’t have you dying on me!” He joked, cracking a smile as they started walking alongside each other again. 

“You’d be pretty miserable without me.” Gina stated, a playful smirk on her lips. “You’d still be sulking over your ex on this once in a lifetime trip.”

“I’d say I’m still sulking. Just on the inside.”

“I don’t think so.” Gina replied, looking up at him. He glanced down at her, his brows raising. She continued, “I guess you seem a lot better than you did at the beginning of the trip. Not as sad, not as worried—except for, you know, this morning.”

He hummed in response. She did have a point. Truthfully, he was miserable at the beginning of the trip. His only objective was to get Nini back and he was obsessed over getting back with her, but now that he’s spent all this time with Gina… he felt lighter, almost. 

She paused for a moment and nudged his arm lightly, “Happiness looks good on you, Bowen.”

He couldn’t keep the smile off of his face and the butterflies from floating back into his system as she looked over at him and her words hung in the air between them. 

“Thanks, Porter.”

━━━━━━

It was around 10:15pm when the fake couple had made it back to their hotel for the night. As they entered the elevator, Ricky felt disappointed to not have more one on one time with Gina even if they spent the whole day together. Selfishly, he just wanted her all to himself. 

Once they reached Ricky’s floor, they slowly headed towards his room. He sighed dramatically the moment they reached the door and heard the buzzing voices from the inside, “Ready to fake it till we make it?”

She laughed softly and without a word intertwined their fingers together. Ricky swallowed upon the contact and felt his cheeks flush in an instant. He gave her one last reassuring glance before he opened the door.

Carlos almost tackled both Ricky and Gina once they entered their hotel room, “Where the hell were you two?”

“Around.” Ricky hummed smartly, shrugging his shoulders. 

“While you two were roaming around Paris, I was stuck with Nini and Elias who are definitely having trouble in paradise. It was awkward as fuck the entire time.” The boy hissed under his breath so his classmates weren’t able to hear.

Ricky glanced down at Gina for a second and then back to Carlos, “That sounds like a you problem.”

“No, asshat, that’s a you problem. Your ex,” Carlos paused looking around, “who you want back is having problems with her boyfriend. You should be jumping with joy.”

“Well, they’re not broken up yet so… it’s not really his problem right now.” Gina chimed in, shrugging her shoulders. 

The Latino boy glanced between the two of them skeptically, as if he was wondering why it wasn’t a big deal to them. And then, his face softened and he nodded his head, “Right. Got it.”

It almost seemed too good to be true that Carlos had just magically let the two of them off the hook. But, he backed away and retreated back to his seat next to Seb on the armchair in the corner of the room.

“Hey everyone!” Ricky greeted as he subconsciously placed his hand on Gina’s lower back as he led her through the small crowd of their classmates. 

“Damn, where have you guys been?” Rico, one of their classmates, whistled. There were a few laughs from some of their other peers and Ricky couldn’t ignore the feeling of Nini’s eyes on him. It all felt suffocating.

Gina laughed, “Oh, you know, around.” 

“Come on, sit, you guys! We were just about to play Would You Rather.” Ashlyn urged, patting the vacant spots next to her on Ricky’s bed. Ricky and Gina silently made their way over there and sat down between Ashlyn and Big Red. 

“Hey,” Red smiled big at his best friend, “did you have fun?”

“Yeah. I did.”

“Cool.” Big Red smiled fondly back at him and returned his attention to the larger group. Natalie Bagley had started the game by asking Kourtney if she would rather spend a day trapped in an elevator with Miss Jenn or Mr. Mazzara. Ricky didn’t even know who he would choose.

Kourtney, who sat next to EJ, turned to Nini and paused while she thought of something to ask her, “Hm, Neens, would you rather… know everything and die tomorrow or live forever but be ignorant?”

Nini frowned as she thought of her decision. A moment passed and her eyes flickered over to Ricky quickly before retreating back to her closest friend, “I think knowing everything would be pretty cool.”

Ricky’s brows furrowed. It seemed as if she was directing that statement towards him in a way and for some reason it didn’t necessarily make him feel good. 

Not to mention he noticed the way that Elias and Nini were not attached at the hip, shoving their PDA down everyone’s throats, but instead were seated uncomfortably on the floor next to one another with a subtle gap between them. There was something off.

While he studied his ex as she asked Seb a Would You Rather question, Gina placed her hand on top of Ricky’s hand that sat on his lap and laced their fingers together. He glanced down at their hands and felt his heart swell in his chest.

He turned to look at her and was met with tired eyes and a reassuring smile. 

“Ricky!” Seb called, causing Ricky to snap out of his trance-like state. “Would you rather have no eyebrows or just one eyebrow?”

“One eyebrow.” He shrugged. “That way I can just rock an eyepatch and no one will ever know the difference.”

He heard Gina stifle a laugh from beside him, which only made him smile a bit more. Then, he scanned the room for a potential victim to his question but then just decided to go the safe route, “Big Red!”

“Yes, Ricardo?”

“Would you rather go a whole year without smoking or a whole year without Hot Cheetos?”

“Do you hate me?”

The room bursted into fits of laughter.

“Answer the question, bud.”

“A year without Hot Cheetos. I’d still have regular Cheetos.”

He laughed, “I like that answer.”

The next hour went on just like that with the crowd of teenagers playing a game of Would You Rather. Ricky was having fun, despite having all of his Nini–Gina thoughts in the back of his mind. 

But, one thing he did take note of was the fact that Gina had become a lot quieter within that last hour. She hadn’t left her spot or checked her phone, their hands were still firmly intertwined together, but her energy level had changed drastically and Ricky was beginning to worry.

“Hey,” Gina whispered as EJ asked Kaden a Would You Rather question. She leaned into Ricky slightly, “Turns out I’m actually not feeling too hot.”

Ricky instantly frowned, turning his body fully to her, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I just feel really tired and nauseous… maybe I should go lay down.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll come with you.”

Gina looked over towards Nini and back to him, “No, Bowen, seriously you can stay. I just need to lay down.”

“Gina,” he said firmly, “I’m coming with you.”

He could see the small conflict inside of her, but eventually she gave in and nodded her head. She turned to Ashlyn and the two exchanged a few hushed words, which Ricky couldn’t hear. 

He stood up, causing most everyone in the room to look at him. He felt Nini’s eyes on the back of his head as Gina stood up and the two explained their circumstances for leaving.

After everyone bid their get wells to Gina, Ricky led her out of his packed hotel room and into the eerily quiet hallway. They walked down the hallway and to the elevator and entered the elevator in silence.

Gina, who had her arms crossed against her chest, turned to Ricky once the doors shut, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to ruin your night.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Ricky replied, tilting his head. “You’d do the same for me.”

She nodded her head, knowing what he said was completely true. 

“And, besides,” Ricky chuckled quietly, “I’d rather be spending my night with you than a group of people who didn’t give a shit about me throughout high school.”

She sent him a small smile. He could tell that Gina really didn’t have the energy to have a whole conversation and that was okay. He just wants her to be okay.

The elevator doors opened to reveal her floor and the two exited without another word. Ricky followed her down the hall to her hotel room. After she opened the door, Gina made her way towards her luggage and grabbed a few items and headed right for the bathroom.

Once Gina had exited the bathroom, now with her hair tied up in a bun, she walked over to her bed and sat in it while Ricky stood, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“You’re not going to change?” Ricky asked, tilting his head.

She shook her head, “I’m just going to wait until Ash gets back. She probably won’t be that long.”

He nodded slowly in response, “Did you bring any ibuprofen? I’m sure if you took some you’d feel a lot better.” Ricky said, glancing around Gina’s hotel room curiously.

“Actually, yeah, I did. It’s in my backpack, but I can grab it–” she started to get up from the bed.

“Porter, you better stay in that bed.” He warned her, walking over to her backpack and searching for the pain reliever. He rummaged through her bag, carefully, and found the medicine in one of the front compartments. “Got it. See? I’m capable!”

All Gina did was laugh softly at him. 

“Now, do you want water?”

“Water is fine.”

“Alright.” He nodded, strolling over to the mini-fridge and opened it up. “Let’s see… we have some fancy ass looking sparkling water sourced specially from the Parisian sea or just tap water. Sourced from the bathroom sink.”

“Parisian sea?” Gina laughed audibly and brought her hand up to cover her mouth. “We’re in the middle of France. I’m sure you mean the Seine River.”

“Isn’t that what I said?” He sent her a small knowing smile. He held the bottle up, “You didn’t choose. Overpriced sparkly river water or unfiltered bathroom water.”

“Both sound really appealing. I’ll go with the sparkling river water that hopefully is not actually river water.” 

The boy inspected the label, and frowned slightly, “Unfortunately for us, the label is in French. The world will never know if this bottle of water is from the zen river.”

“ Sen. It’s pronounced sen.” Gina giggled as he handed her the bottle. 

“Potato-potahto.”

She read the label herself, her brows knitting together slightly as read the label herself. Ricky watched her carefully until she finally looked back up at him, “I think it says something about being sourced from a volcano. Not sure though.”

“You know French?”

She laughed, “I took French, I wouldn’t say I’m fluent.”

“Let me guess, you took AP French.”

“No.” She mumbled, shrugging. “I took a class through U of U because East High doesn’t have an AP French course.”

“Ah, there it is.” Ricky hummed, not even a bit surprised by this.

“I’m just full of surprises.” She joked.

He rolled his eyes, “Drink your volcano water.”

A comfortable silence fell between the two, which allowed Ricky to kick off his beat up vans and walk over to the bed and sit down right beside Gina.

He kicked his feet up on the bed and glanced over at the girl, who was now laying down, “Sorry if my feet stink.”

Her nose scrunched up in distaste, “Gross.”

“Just a warning!”

She groaned, “I swear if I smell even a little stench coming from your feet, you are getting kicked off the bed.”

“You’re cranky when you’re sick.”

She looked over at him, a small glare on her face, “I’m feeling under the weather. Not sick.” She corrected. He figured she didn’t want to jinx it. 

“Well,” he started, “you’re cranky when you’re feeling under the weather.”

She shook her head and rolled onto her side, “Okay, Mr. I-barely-get-any-sleep, excuse me while I actually get some sleep.”

“I got enough sleep last night, Porter. I wouldn’t say I was well rested, but I did sleep!”

“Good for you.” She mumbled into her pillow. “But I need to be well rested tomorrow so we can continue our efforts in getting your girlfriend back. Now shhh.”

The mention of his ex made him quiet right down. He stared at the painting on the wall in front of him as he shoved down the discomfort brewing inside him. He didn’t want to think about Nini right now.

So, the boy started to think about their day and just what exactly would have gotten Gina sick. Or under the weather, as she called it.

The constant travel? Not enough rest? The food? Maybe a mix of all of it?

Ricky glanced over at her and he could tell she hadn’t fallen asleep yet. He let a small laugh bubble in his chest before saying, “Maybe being picky has its perks. It definitely was that… What the hell was it called? Fu–waffle? Fe-waffle? ”

It took a few moments before he heard Gina stifle a laugh from beside him, earning a small grin from the boy. She turned over slightly, peeking up at him, “Falafel.”

He grinned down at her, “Ah, yes. The falafel definitely got you sick. The green shit inside didn’t look appetizi–”

“Oh shut up.” Gina mumbled, rolling back over on her side. His eyes lingered on the back of her head, the tightness in his chest overtaking him completely. A small chuckle escaped her lips, “Don’t knock it till you try it.”

Ricky hummed, turning his attention back to the blank tv in front of the bed. His hands were fiddling with his phone, which laid on his stomach, “Sorry, no can do, pretty girl, I’ll never be trying fuh-waffle .”

He could imagine the eye roll that his purposeful mispronunciation of the food would have normally gained if her eyes weren’t closed.  

She then turned over on her side, facing him, and shook her head, “You’re impossible.”

“You love me.” He said. 

While a small silence filled the air, he suddenly felt strange saying those words. It came out playful and obviously joking, but he still felt weird about it.

Nonetheless, Ricky rolled on his side with an exaggerated grunt, facing Gina, who had her hands tucked between her head and her pillow. She still looked a little pale, but there was a slight redness in her cheeks as she gazed back at him with a small laugh.

“Hey.” He flashed her a cheeky smile all while realizing how close their faces were to each other, but neither of them moved.

“Hi.”

“You need to sleep.” Ricky told her, beginning to worry that the food poisoning, or whatever this could be, would put a wedge in the rest of Gina’s trip. 

She sighed lightly, a slight frown on her lips, “Yeah. I know.”

“I can’t tell you how horrible it would be if you couldn’t explore the city with me tomorrow. I’d be stuck with Carlos and that would be a complete shit show.”

She stifled a laugh, “Maybe I will be sick tomorrow now that you mention it…”

“Oh shut up, Porter. I don’t want you missing out on Paris.”

“I got enough Paris today.” She smiled softly, tracing the seams of the comforter between them.

Ricky chuckled, “There’s never enough Paris.”

She peaked up at him, a playful smile on her lips, “You’re right. We still need to go on top of the Eiffel Tower so I can capture your fear of heights on video.”

Ricky rolled his eyes at the reminder of being 400-something feet in the air, “Alright, no Paris for you.”

“Darn. It’d be a shame to miss that once in a lifetime experience.”

“You’ve already seen me at my worst back in London. That’s enough.” He responded, his cheeks turning a light shade of crimson as he remembered his London-eye-freak-out.

Gina shrugged, “Nah. I’ll be right by your side again this time.”

His lips grew into a small smile as he glanced back at her and his stomach filled with that ever-so familiar warmth he felt whenever he was around her. 

His mind slowly wandered to the thought of her lips and he swallowed, pushing the thought away, “Do you want me to go get Red’s CPAP? I’m sure he’d love to lend it to you for the night.”

Her soft giggle rang in his ears like a sweet melody and filled his insides with bliss; it was a contagious sound that only gave him the biggest grin on his face. He watched her carefully as a loose curl fell slack on her face.

She looked back at him, her smile faltering for a moment as she avoided his gaze, “Do you think that we would’ve been friends if we had met earlier?”

Ricky took his bottom lip between his teeth, watching as she lifted her gaze up to meet his. He nodded slightly, “I think so.”

“It would’ve been nice… having more time.”

He sucked in a breath, knowing exactly what she meant. They only had two more days of the trip left and then once they got back, their time together was limited. Gina wasn’t staying too long in Salt Lake and then they would be in two separate parts of the country. And Gina didn’t expect to come and visit very often.

It bothered Ricky too much to even think about it. He’s known this girl for a little over a week, but he’s become so fond of her and their friendship and he couldn’t imagine his world without her in it. Cheesy, stupid, weird—yes, but it’s true.

And whatever this was with Gina, he knew that he didn’t want it to end. 

“Yeah.” He said simply after a minute, trying to push his thoughts on the back burner. “But, hey, we still have our movie-slash-pizza marathon when we get back. And there’s another week of school so we can hang out every day if you want to, obviously. Maybe even show me a few of those Chef Sam baking tutorials.”

Though she nodded her head softly, her eyes had a sadness to them, something only he could notice, and noted the way her lips curved downwards into the slightest pout. She didn’t want to let go of this either.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, a small sigh escaping her lips, “It’s always been easy for me to just… get up and move away. I’ve done it more times that I can even remember.” She paused, raising her gaze to meet his, “I don’t know why it’s so hard to leave this time.”

“You know why.” He said lowly, letting the words just slip out.

Her lips parted in response and the boy swore he heard her breath hitch. The two of them were so close, their faces inches apart and Ricky found himself looking down at her lips. 

His brown eyes traveled up back to her eyes slowly, tracing over all of the faint freckles along the way that dotted her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her coloring had seemed to return slightly, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of their proximity or if Gina really was feeling better. 

Even under the dim lighting of the hotel room’s lamp, she looked breathtaking. He could stare at her all day.

She looked back at him with tired eyes, watching him carefully under her long lashes, as he studied all of her features, not seeming to mind the wonder and curiosity behind his eyes. 

His gaze lifted to meet her brown eyes, feeling the warmth in his stomach become even more prominent in that moment. He swallowed nervously and his eyes flickered down to her lips for the second time. The urge to kiss her was almost overwhelming.

She let out a shaky breath and Ricky saw her peer down at his lips right after. It was quick, but he caught it and the simple action made him dizzy. 

Just as he was about to do something he would definitely regret, Gina cleared her throat, turning her head towards the ceiling. 

Ricky instinctively moved his head back a few inches, finally noticing just how close the two of them actually were now that they had distance between them. 

“I, um,” She started, biting down on her lip, “I should get some rest.”

“Yeah– yeah .” Ricky responded quickly, swallowing his nerves and sat up in the bed. He could feel the thick tension that emanated between the two of them; there was no way around it. 

Gina peered over at him after a minute, her eyes lingering on his profile for a moment, “You can go, Bowen, I’m seriously fine. I think I’m feeling a lot better.”

“Gina, I’m waiting until Ashlyn gets back. We talked about this.”

“She should be here shortly. I’m okay.”

“Exactly.” He responded, a smart smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he grabbed one of the unreasonably soft comforters and pulled it over his legs. “She’ll be here shortly. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

She stared at him for a moment, seemingly trying to hide the grin that was fighting to form on her lips, “I’m never going to win, am I?”

“Nope. Not leaving this spot until a certain redheaded Caswell walks right through that door.”

“Fine.” Gina replied, tugging some of the covers over her legs and getting comfortable under them. She turned over and glanced at him, “Wake me up when she gets back, kay?” 

“You got it, honey butter biscuit.” Ricky said, turning on his side, facing away from Gina. He could feel the tension still hanging in the air, despite their efforts to act like their normal selves. 

But after about ten minutes, the tension in the air dissipated and he could hear her soft breathing becoming heavier by the minute which indicated that she had finally fallen asleep. 

Ricky grabbed his phone from the nightstand and checked the time. It was only about midnight and he figured that the party downstairs would probably last another hour. 

He set his phone back down and glanced over at Gina again. Her hands were tucked between her head and pillow, somehow managing butterflies to erupt in his stomach for what felt like the hundredth time that night. 

He returned to his side of the bed, feeling his eyes growing heavier and heavier as he waited for Ashlyn to arrive. So, he shut his eyes and his mind wandered to the events that unfolded that day. 

At the start of the day, he spent his time trying to convince himself, rather than his classmates, that he truly wanted to be with Nini again. And by the end of the day, he was trying to push away whatever it was he was beginning to feel for Gina.

He should be upstairs with the rest of his classmates, desperately clinging on every opportunity to win his ex-girlfriend back. But, oddly enough, he felt no obligation to be there. He was supposed to be here, with Gina, making sure she’s alright. 

As he slowly nodded off into sleep, his confusing thoughts and feelings towards the girl beside him slowly drifted away. But maybe those overwhelming feelings weren’t as confusing as he made them out to be. 

Maybe he was just too scared to admit what all of it actually meant. 

Chapter Text

Things were… complicated. 

Gina’s whole life had been a series of complete uncertainty. There’s always been a big question mark surrounding where she was going to live next, if she was going to make friends, when she'll have to leave again, and now… whatever the hell was happening with Ricky Bowen.

Everything in her world was going smoothly for once; she actually stayed in one place for more than a year and was able to make two of the bestest friends that she could ever ask for. She finally was able to live a semi-normal life, not running away from anything, until Ricky Bowen showed up at her locker on a random Wednesday afternoon with a bold proposition and flipped her life upside down. 

Things got complicated the second she changed her mind at the airport.

And flash forward to now, when she opened her eyes to see a very familiar mop of brown curls laying right beside her. She couldn’t keep the butterflies from flooding in her stomach and her heart from racing inside her chest, despite the confusion arising from the fact that he was there. And it was morning. 

She watched him carefully with fascination. Her eyes traced over every single one of his features, drinking in each detail from the small freckles on his cheeks to his beautifully long lashes.

Just very, very complicated.

The morning sun poured into the room and shined down on his face, illuminating every inch of his skin and Gina couldn’t help but think how pretty he looked. His pink lips were parted, he had a stray curl falling across his forehead and the girl fought the urge to reach out and brush it away. He might even have been lightly snoring, yet Gina couldn’t think of a better way to wake up. 

She averted her eyes from the boy and glanced around the room. Just like everything else in the room, Ashlyn’s bed was exactly how it had been left from the night before – empty. 

Had Ashlyn not come back last night? And what time was it? 

Gina spotted her phone on the bedside table right beside Ricky’s. Though her curiosity was at a peak and she was eager to know of her best friend's whereabouts, she couldn’t find the strength to get up from the bed. It might risk waking Ricky. So, she stayed right where she was.

She didn’t know how long she had been looking at him when he stirred in his sleep, causing her heart to leap in her chest. She felt a small rush of adrenaline run through her veins as his eyes slowly opened and she was met by his brown eyes. Those golden brown eyes…

They landed on her almost straight away, followed by his brows furrowing ever-so slightly as if he was just as confused as she was, but faded away upon realization. His lips quirked up into a smile and a whole zoo erupted in Gina’s stomach, “Hi.”

His voice was raspy and low, and definitely surprised the girl. But she liked it. She liked that it was only hers to hear.

She adjusted her head on her pillow, “Hey.”

His eyes scanned over her face for a moment, “How are you feeling?”

She had been so immersed in admiring Ricky that she completely forgot about being overcome with sickness last night. She felt fine, even better now that she woke up with Ricky. “I’m good. I feel a lot better, actually.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

“One thousand percent sure?”

Her lips twitched upwards, “Yes, Ricky. One thousand and five percent sure.”

He stared back at her before nodding his head, “Okay.” 

Before she let silence engulf them and her thoughts to wander again, Gina eyed the boy next to her, “Is it a good time to ask why exactly you’re still here? And why Ashlyn isn’t?”

His brows furrowed in confusion and he quickly turned over to inspect the other bed, which was left unoccupied. He turned back, “I literally have no clue. I remember waiting and waiting for her to come and then eventually… I must’ve fallen asleep? And, Jesus, what time is it?” He sat up, rubbing his eyes and grabbing his phone from the bedside table. “Really? It’s only 6:09… Gi, we’re missing out on some much needed sleep right now.”

Gi. Without even trying, he made her heart skip a beat. But he was right, they didn’t have to be awake until 7:00.

Setting his phone back down, he laid back down and snickered, “Do you have a habit of waking up at the ass crack of dawn?”

“Not normally.” She responded simply, feeling her body pulling her back to sleep. 

Ricky nuzzled his head further into his pillow. “As much as I–” he started, a yawn escaping his lips, “would love to keep this conversation going, I’m going back to sleep.”

“Me too.” Gina said in a quiet mumble, but her eyes remained on the boy next to her. It was getting hard to ignore the flutter in her stomach that grew more and more prominent each time she was with him. 

As she gazed over to the boy who was drifting, her thoughts and feelings were distorted by the fuzziness of sleep pulling her back in and allowing her dreams to take over.

Until something landed on Gina’s face. Hard. 

Her eyes jolted open and she brought her hand up to remove the object from on top of her head. After discovering that the object was a pillow and then moving it away, her eyes landed on a wide eyed Ashlyn hovering over her. “Did you have to hit me with a pillow?”

“I tried to wake you, like, five times! You weren’t budging. So I did what I had to do.” Ashlyn had a smug smirk on her lips as she glanced from her best friend to the person laying beside her. Gina followed her gaze and an obvious blush crept up her neck. “Care to explain?” 

Gina’s brows knitted together, “What? Shouldn't you explain where you were last night? You were supposed to kick him out once you got back.” She asked in a hushed tone, too worried that she would wake Ricky up. 

“The party went until almost three in the morning so then I made my way back here and then saw the two of you… and well, I didn’t want to wake the gremlin up. He looked too peaceful.”

After a moment, the boy shifted in the spot he laid, “Heard that.” He mumbled into the pillow.

The redhead broke a smile, “Take it as a compliment. Anywho, time to get up and get your butts moving!”

Beside Gina, the boy groaned loudly into his pillow, “What time is it?”

“Seven o’clock.”

He mumbled an incoherent profanity into the pillow and a small grin was placed on Gina’s lips. If there was one thing she knew for certain about Ricky, it was that he was not a morning person. 

The curly haired girl climbed out of bed and stretched out. Her best friend inspected her physical appearance for a moment before raising a concerned brow, “You’re feeling better?”

“Yeah, actually. I just think I needed some ibuprofen and a good nights sleep is all.” She shrugged lazily.

“ And good company.” Ashlyn noted, the slightest smirk ghosting her lips. 

Gina eyed her friend for a moment, giving her a “you have no idea what you’re talking about” look. The redhead shook her head disbelieving and then turned to look at the boy on the bed, “Ricky…”

He whined into the pillow.

“Don’t make me get Big Red up here.”

He turned over with squinted eyes, “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

“She would.” Gina said at the same time as Ashlyn. 

Ricky rubbed his eyes and with a groan, he slowly crawled out of bed. He wore a grumpy frown on his lips and his curls stuck up in every direction on his head.

“You look like hell.” Ashlyn laughed lightly. 

“You really do.” Gina agreed, though she actually thought he looked adorable (in a friendly way, obviously). “You must not have slept very well.”

He wiped a hand over his face. “Actually,” he started, moving towards the bedside table and grabbing his phone, “this might have been the best sleep I’ve gotten in a while.”

Gina felt a flutter in her stomach. The best sleep he’s gotten in a while? Was that because of her? 

“Ah, Red’s blowing up my phone. Something about having to explain myself for not coming back last night?” Ricky read in an incredulous tone, glancing up at Gina. His phone buzzed once more, “ Oh, now he’s threatening me with no weed for a week? Who does he think he is?”

“The guy who gives you free weed.” Ashlyn pointed out.

The boy pursed his lips, “You got me there.”

A small laugh escaped Gina’s lips, gaining Ricky’s attention. His gaze lingered on her for a beat too long before he shoved his phone into his pocket and cleared his throat, “Gotta get back. See you two downstairs?”

The warmth in the pit of her stomach was growing even stronger and she nodded her head. “Yeah. See you.”

With a goodbye and a final glance her way, Ricky made his way out of the room, leaving the two teenage girls alone to get ready for the day. 

Gina felt… different. All her feelings that surrounded Ricky Bowen confused the hell out of her because she surely didn’t feel that way about any of her friends. And of course, as if on cue, she felt her best friend’s eyes on her. 

Ashlyn moved from where she stood and sat on the edge of her perfectly made bed, staring at Gina with a knowing look.

“Yes, Ash?” She said, walking over to her belongings, trying to act as nonchalant as she possibly could. Of course she knew what her friend was thinking and she really didn’t want to confront it. So, she’d play it off. 

“What was all that?”

“What was all what? ” Gina asked as she mindlessly rummaged through her suitcase.

“Gina…”

“We have to get ready.” She responded abruptly, grabbing the first outfit she could find. “We’re wasting precious time!” She called while running into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. 

Thankfully, once she was done changing and getting ready, the girl didn’t poke at the subject anymore. Gina could finally breathe for the first time this morning. 

After about twenty more minutes of getting ready for the day, the girls were about ready to leave their room and head downstairs. Gina grabbed her small backpack and swung it over her shoulders before looking at herself in the mirror. She flattened the ruffled green fabric of her summer dress while her thoughts absentmindedly wandered to the boy she woke up with, which was something that she was getting very well acquainted with.

For some reason, her nerves were acting up at the thought of seeing Ricky, even though they had seen each other not even an hour before. But those nerves weren’t anything bad, no, they were more the excited-filled-with-butterflies nerves. She was giddy to see him again. 

Tell that to pre-senior trip Gina and she would have laughed right in your face. 

She sucked in a deep breath as an attempt to calm herself down, and turned to her best friend with a grin, “Ready?”

“So ready!” Ashlyn clapped her hands and hooked her arm around Gina’s as they made their way out of their room and down the hallway to the elevators.

As they approached the elevators, they spotted Natalie Bagley and Steph Rodriguez, two of their classmates. The two girls were passionately conversing about something as Gina and Ashlyn approached them.

“Hey!” Gina and Ashlyn said in unison, putting a stop to their conversation.

“Oh, hi guys!” Natalie greeted.

“Did you hear?” Steph skipped the greeting, taking a step forward.

Gina exchanged a glance with Ashlyn. She tilted her head curiously, “Hear what?”

“Nini and Elias got into a huge fight last night!” Steph exclaimed loudly, almost loud enough for the whole building to hear.

A bitter taste emerged in Gina’s mouth and then the elevator door opened. 

They all walked into the elevator and Ashlyn glanced between Gina and the girls, “Did they break up?”

“Yea–” Steph started, but Natalie cut her off with a swat to the arm. 

“No! We don’t know, actually, we just heard them fighting last night after everyone left the party.”

Gina would be dumb to not realize that the two were fighting because of Ricky—Nini oozed jealousy whenever she was around them. And this meant he possibly had another shot with her. She should be happy for him. She should be happy to rid herself from the role of Ricky’s fake girlfriend. But she’s not. Not in the slightest. 

This was just another reminder that her confusing relationship with Ricky might have to come to a screaming halt. Sure, it was supposed to end at some point, but it felt too abrupt. It felt like their time was running out. 

“That’s…” Gina trailed, trying to get a grasp. She had a part to play. “Totally weird. Why do you think they were fighting?”

Natalie and Steph exchanged a glance, but then shrugged, “No ones really sure. But… it all went down after you and Ricky left the party last night. Nini was, like, pretty upset and all of a sudden Elias had enough, it seemed.”

What was she supposed to say to that? 

Thankfully, the elevator doors opened and saved Gina. But, unfortunately, now she had to face Ricky. Was she supposed to tell him about Nini and Elias? Or should she selfishly keep this information to herself?

And then her eyes landed on him across the lobby. He was standing with Big Red, wearing a slightly oversized gray t-shirt, black jeans and his blue vans. He had a smile on his face and Gina almost melted into a puddle right then and there. God, what was in the air?

“You okay?” Ashlyn asked in a whisper, tearing her away from her thoughts. 

She nodded, “Of course.”

The girl eyed her wearily before she nodded, “Alrighty.”

The girls said goodbye to Natalie and Steph and walked over to Big Red and Ricky. The pair were in the middle of a conversation, until the curly boy’s eyes traveled to the girls approaching. Immediately his gaze landed on Gina and a bright grin grew on his lips, “Hey you.”

Despite the new information in the back of her head, she couldn’t fight the smile from forming once she approached him, “Hi.”

“Gina!” Big Red exclaimed, gaining her attention. “You missed it! Last night Ashlyn got up on the table and was reciting her Ms. Darbus monologue from the musical last semester. Word for word, bar for bar. It was sick!”

“Bar for bar?” Ricky repeated aloud, glancing at his best friend bewildered. 

Her eyebrows rose and she turned to Ashlyn, who had a proud smile on her lips, “I leave you alone for one night and you’re out there standing on table tops?”

“You know how much I love that monologue, okay!” 

Gina chuckled dryly and turned to Big Red, “Please tell me you got it on video.”

“In 4k, baby.” Big Red flashed a grin, holding up his phone. 

She wanted to watch the video of her tipsy best friend reciting lines from their musical, she really did, but the newfound information she acquired on the elevator was screaming in the back of her brain and was causing her to feel somewhat guilty that she hadn’t told Ricky yet. 

“Send it to me.” She responded quickly and turned her attention to Ricky. “Can I talk to you really quick?”

Ashlyn and Big Red exchanged a glance at the sudden change in subject. Ricky’s brows furrowed but he nodded his head, “Yeah, what’s up?”

She looked over to their friends, sent a small smile towards them and then took Ricky’s hand and pulled him away from the group. The electricity where their hands touched was undeniable and was enough to make Gina’s head spin.

“Are you feeling alright? What is it?” There was concern evident in his tone.

She glanced down at their still intertwined hands and nodded, “Yeah. Yeah—everything’s fine. It’s just,” she swallowed and turned her attention to his ex-girlfriend who stood across the lobby with her group. A sigh escaped her lips, “We ran into Natalie and Steph on the elevator and they wasted no time to tell us that Nini and Elias had a big fight last night. Apparently.”

He looked like he was holding his breath. And maybe Gina was too. 

“I just thought you should know.” 

He pursed his lips, averting his eyes to his ex-girlfriend, “Yeah.”

A few beats passed. “You know why they’re fighting, right?” Gina asked.

He sucked in a breath, ducking his head, “Yeah. I do.”

She wasn’t sure how to gauge his reaction, but what she could gather was that didn’t seem entirely happy about the news. She glanced over to Nini and Elias, who were talking to two completely different groups of people, putting on an act as if they were okay. 

And then an idea popped up in her head. Even though her heart was screaming not to even give it light, her head was telling her it might be the only way for Ricky and Nini to come together again. 

“It’s almost perfect, Bowen,” Gina finally said, turning to him fully. Their eyes met and she practically had to force herself to say it. “Tomorrow we plan a fake fight in front of Nini and convince her that we’re having a problem.”

No matter how much she didn’t want to give him up, no matter how much it felt like a punch to her gut, she knew that it was the right thing to do. After all, he wants to be with Nini. That’s all he’s ever wanted. And Gina only wanted Ricky to be happy.

And for Ricky to be happy that meant playing the hell out of the role as his fake girlfriend. So planning a fake fight as a final attempt to win Nini back might just be that missing piece to do so. Gina knew that Nini wanted Ricky back in some capacity, it’s written all over her, and that girl needed some kind of push. 

“Us?”

“Yeah. Like, hey, look we’re having trouble in paradise too. And she might think it’s about her.”

“Right.” He nodded in understanding.

“If we do it tomorrow, it gives her the rest of the day to think about it and then hopefully, by the end of tomorrow or at least by the time we get home… she’ll take you back.”

He didn’t say anything, all he did was gaze back at her with his brows slightly creased. What was he thinking?

Gina looked away, towards Nini once again, avoiding his gaze, “You still… want her back,” she paused, then brought her eyes up to meet him again, “right?”

A part of her, a huge part of her, was grasping onto the ounce of hope that he didn’t actually still want her back. But if that were the case, he would’ve called off their fake-relationship by now and Gina didn’t want to set herself up for disappointment.

And even though she knew the answer that was about to leave his lips, disappointment still flooded her system the moment the words “of course” left his lips. 

She bowed her head, putting on her best smile, “Alright. Cool. Ready to hit The Louvre?”

He stood there for a moment as if he were trying to read her mind, which he eventually came short on, and then his lips quirked up into a slight smile, “As ready as I’ll ever be, Gina-rina.”

━━━━━━

Gina had never particularly been interested in paintings or sculptures or antiques, as theatre and dance were her preferred forms of art, but anyone walking through the halls of The Louvre would have guessed differently. She was completely enthralled in every single piece of artwork that was displayed, no matter how old or confusing (according to Ricky) they were. 

“Why is she holding her head?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask her?” Gina responded sarcastically. They stared up at the statue in front of them, which consisted of three figures—a headless woman sandwiched between two young girls. 

He laughed wryly and peeked up at the statue, “Yo lady, what’s up with your head?”

Gina couldn’t fight the giggle that bubbled in her chest. The boy glanced back at her, a somewhat proud grin forming on his lips in triumph of making her laugh. 

After they had their conversation this morning, Gina couldn’t help but feel the subtle tension that lingered in the air. They had breakfast with their friends at the hotel like it was normal but she felt that their energy felt… off. So, ever since they left their hotel, she made the decision to not let their last minute plan get to her and ruin their day together. That was tomorrow’s problem. Today she was going to have fun exploring some of Paris’ most prized landmarks with her fake boyfriend. 

They left all that tension at the hotel, thankfully, and were back to their usual back and forth. 

“You know what would be cool? A Night at the Museum movie but at the Louvre. Paintings and sculptures coming alive… the history’s there.” Ricky hummed as they walked side by side, their shoulders brushing every few seconds. 

“Shhh.” Gina nudged him. “Maybe that’s going to be the fourth one.” 

He chuckled, “I think I would’ve heard if there was a fourth one coming out, Porter.”

“Did the paintings and sculptures not come alive in the three others?”

“Well, it was mostly the dinosaur skeletons, big and small wax figures… oh! And a stuffed monkey.” 

“A stuffed monkey?” 

“Yeah. His name’s Dexter.”

Gina chuckled, “Maybe I do need to watch these movies.”

“I have a strong feeling you’re going to like them. And all the other movies we watch.” He grinned down at her.

“I can’t wait.” She said simply with a smile tugging at her lips. Five days ago, the idea of sitting through a movie marathon with Ricky Bowen sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but now she was looking forward to it.

Ricky’s brown eyes stayed put on her for a moment too long, before peeling his eyes away and looking towards the statue they were nearing. 

Gina took in their surroundings. The museum was packed wall to wall with tourists, their classmates were scattered all around the place, and Gina found herself reaching for his hand. For show, obviously.

When Ricky glanced down at their now intertwined hands with a furrowed brow and looked up at her, a blush creeped up on her cheeks, “Nini’s around here somewhere.” She said as an attempt to play it off. 

His lips twitched upwards and he returned his gaze to the statue. 

“Can you imagine being able to make something like this?” Gina spoke out loud, admiring the Greek sculpture in front of them.

“Pretty insane if you ask me.” He responded. She was surprised that he wasn’t complaining too much about the museum and it’s artwork, and it seemed like he was actually enjoying himself and the history behind all of the pieces. 

The Louvre itself was a piece of art. The architecture was insanely glorious, and Gina couldn’t wrap her mind around how it was possible to have so many intricate details. The long halls stretched with the most beautiful artwork, and there were so many separate rooms and departments that contained a substantial amount of artwork. They could spend their whole trip at this museum and not get bored for one second. 

The two walked down the halls and through the departments together, falling into step with each other and enjoying one another’s company. Gina liked how well they could just be together. It was easy. It was natural. 

At one point in the afternoon, the two stumbled across a section of the museum that had a colossal painting of two birds above them on the ceiling. Gina didn’t notice it at first, but when Ricky tapped her arm and pointed at the painting, she was pleasantly surprised. 

It was a very simple painting. There were two birds flying in the night sky. It almost seemed like it was supposed to be a gap in the ceiling and acting as if you were looking at the night sky. 

Ricky scrunched his nose up, “Now that is one painting I do not vibe with.”

“Why?” A laugh sputtered out of Gina. She then recalled his fear of birds. “Because there are birds?”

“Yes, Gi! They’re creepy as hell. I mean, look at them.” He pointed up to the ceiling. 

“You’re a dork, Ricky Bowen.”

He looked back at her, a grin climbing his lips, “A very cute dork.”

Yes. A very cute dork.

The girl rolled her eyes, “Alright, keep telling yourself that.” 

“Didn’t you just tell me that I had a nice smile and a beautiful head of curls yesterday?” His mouth curled into a playful smirk as they walked side by side. “It’s okay to admit that I’m cute, Gina Porter.”

Her face flushed as she looked into his soft brown eyes. An image of him sleeping under the morning light popped up into her head, and she couldn’t even find it in herself to tell him that he wasn’t cute. He was a lot more than cute.

“So,” he said, saving her from having to respond to his statement, “do you think the Mona Lisa is going to live up to the hype?”

“No idea.” She responded with a shrug. “We’ll have to see for ourselves.”

The next two hours are spent wandering the halls of the Louvre and admiring each piece of art they come across. Gina had taken probably a hundred photos and sent them to her mother and had even taken a bunch of candids of Ricky (to prove he’s having fun, obviously). 

And then finally, about halfway through their second hour, they strolled into the Louvre’s painting department and stumbled upon the infamous Renaissance painting. It was difficult not to spot the painting, as there was a crowd of tourists attempting to get their own original photo of the Mona Lisa. 

The pair exchanged a glance and without a word, they walked right past all of the other paintings in the department and straight to the well known attraction. They approached the swarm of visitors with cameras and Gina grabbed Ricky’s hand for the second time that day. But this time, he didn’t even seem to think anything of it. 

Instead, he led them through the crowd, trying his very best to get them to the front. He held onto her hand tightly as they reached a spot towards the front. At the front, they were met with two railings that guarded the painting from the passionate travelers and Gina was able to get a good look at the infamous painting. 

Still holding onto Ricky’s hand with her left, she pulled her phone out and captured a few photos of it. A smile of disbelief spread across her face as she gazed over at the painting. Hearing about the Mona Lisa all of your life is one thing, but seeing it in person is another. 

She glanced over to Ricky, who was snapping photos of it for himself. She squeezed his hand, “Is it living up to the hype?”

“Museums blow. But this is kinda sick.” He responded with a grin. He glanced at her, jerking his chin towards the front. “Get in front of me, I want to get a picture of you.” 

And so she did. He took a few pictures of her and then she returned the favor. After about five minutes of soaking the art in, the two decided to continue their perusal of the museum since they only had about a half an hour left until they had to meet back with their classmates. 

After their time was up, they met back with their tour group outside of the museum. Earlier in the day, their group decided not to spend their time at the museum together after Nini sent in the group chat telling them that she was going to stick with Kourtney, which furthered the notion that she was having problems with Elias.

Gina had no problem with this, but she did feel bad for EJ, who was on the last step of his woo-over-Kourtney plan. 

Once they all met back together, it felt like a thick blanket of tension was spread over them. It was awkward, to say the least. Elias and Nini stood six feet apart from each other, avoiding eye contact, while Ricky and Gina pretended not to notice that elephant in the room. Carlos stood there, glancing between all of them with a knowing glance before he turned his gaze to his phone. 

Before they were all forced to converse in place of the awkward silence eating them alive, their chaperones announced it was time to head onto the bus. One by one they filed onto their tour bus, their chaperones called attendance and they were off to lunch before their visit to the Eiffel Tower. 

The drive to the seventh arrondissement was short and consisted of the chaperones explaining their plans for the afternoon--get lunch with your group, do some shopping if necessary, and meet back at the Champ de Mars at promptly 4:00 to go up in the tower. 

Gina sent Ashlyn a quick text to ask if she and Ricky could join them for the afternoon since there seemed to be no chance of reuniting with their group. 

Her best friend responded in no time and after the groups departed from the bus and off into the city, Ricky, Gina, Big Red and Ashlyn headed for a bakery that EJ had recommended they go to. 

The bakery was a quaint shop located a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower, and even had a view of the infamous landmark from the outdoor patio. Inside, the teenagers were hit with a dozen different sweet smells in the air and a not-so-sweet worker, who seemed a bit upset that he had to speak English. Even so, the fake couple were first to order their pastries, and Ricky went out of his way to pay for Gina’s, despite her pleas that it wasn’t necessary. 

After receiving their food, the two found a table for the four of them outside. Gina glanced over at the view and was reminded by the found memories of their visit to the Champ de Mars the day prior, when they hung out in front of the Eiffel Tower and people watched. 

Warmth crept its way into her stomach at the thought. 

“What?” Ricky tilted his head curiously, bringing her back to reality.

Her cheeks flushed, realizing she had been smiling at him for a moment too long. She shrugged it off, “Nothing.”

He didn’t say anything in response. He leaned back in his chair and watched the girl carefully as he was trying to read her. A moment passed and suddenly, there was commotion coming from the street, which (thankfully) broke Ricky’s gaze.

She glanced down at the chocolate croissant on the plate in front of her. “Look,” Gina held up the pastry after gaining Ricky’s attention again, “it’s me.”

He stared back at her, brows raised, a ghost of a smile hanging over his mouth. 

“Get it?” She prodded. “I’m your honey butter biscuit.”

His eyes flickered with amusement as he looked down at the French delicacy and back up at her. A laugh built in his chest, “Gina, that’s a croissant.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s the closest thing to one here. I highly doubt that France has honey butter biscuits.”

“Well,” the boy hummed, leaning in from across the table, “They have one.” He reached over and booped her nose with a sideways grin on his lips. “The best one.”

“Cheesiest fake boyfriend ever.” Gina commented despite the cheesiness of it causing heat to rise to her face. “Is that what you’re like in an actual relationship?”

He shrugged, leaning back in his seat again, “You love my cheesiness, Porter. It’s irresistible. I’m irre-”

“You’re resistible.”  

With brows raised and a smirk ghosting his lips, he crossed his arms, “You sure?”

“Positive.” She mirrored his actions by leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, cocky expression and all.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Ashlyn joining them at the table, taking a seat beside Gina. The redhead set her plate of sugar puffs down in front of her and placed a box of macaroons in the center of the table, “I got all of us macaroons!”

“ Ooh, yummy.” Gina hummed, leaning forward and getting a look at the colorful sandwich cookies. She glanced up at Ricky, who was inspecting the macaroons curiously. “You should try one.” She encouraged him, moving the packaging toward him.

He clicked his tongue and grabbed a green one right out of the package, “If I hate it, it’s on you, Porter.”

She rolled her eyes in response and the two girls watched him carefully as he took a hesitant bite out of the cookie. It took a few moments of slow chewing before he nodded his head in surprise, “Oh shit. That’s actually pretty good.”

Gina let out an excited gasp and clapped her hands in triumph, “Oh my God, I never thought this day would come!”

He laughed, “You act like I hate everything edible.”

“You do!”

“You’re exaggerating.” He said through a mouthful of macaroon. 

“That’s debatable.” 

A chuckle was heard from Ashlyn beside her, who watched the two of them in amusement. She then popped one of her sugar puffs into her mouth. 

“Yo, Ashlyn, what’s taking Red so long?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s ordering the whole display case.”

Ricky didn’t even question it, he just laughed and grabbed his phone and began typing away. 

After a few minutes of soaking in the city life around them, Gina’s phone vibrated on the table, tearing her eyes away from a couple walking their poodle down the sidewalk. She opened her phone and saw that it was a notification from Instagram that read: RICKYBOWEN tagged you in a post. 

She opened the notification and it immediately opened to his post in its full glory. It was a picture he took of her in front of the Mona Lisa, though it wasn’t the best angle due to all of the fellow tourists crowded around her, Gina liked it. It was one for the books. 

But as she read the caption, though, her heart leaped and fluttered and beat hard against her chest. Yes, basically all of their posts had some kind of horrible, corny pun involved, but this one had sent her for a whirlwind of emotions. 

It read: I Louvre you! 

It was stupid. Something as little as a caption with a pun had a whole freaking zoo erupting in Gina’s stomach. Her eyes stayed trained on her phone for a few moments, trying to gain composure, before she glanced over to the boy across from her. Did he even think twice about that caption?

But why would he? Isn’t that what they were supposed to do? Try to make their relationship look as convincing as possible to the people around them? And if that included a caption with yet another Paris pun then so be it… 

He hadn’t said anything or looked up from his phone since he posted it. So he definitely didn't think twice about it. It was a big old nothing and Gina was blowing it out of proportion. 

“Gina!” Red called as he walked up to their table with three plates of pastries in hand, causing Ricky to look up from his phone, almost catching her in the act of staring at him. She looked away and towards his best friend, “Want to see the video of Ashlyn last night? I got one of her singing a mashup of a bunch of different songs too. I think they were showtunes. What a moment.”

“Not this.” Ashlyn groaned.

Ricky chuckled, “Oh shit, I’m going to want to see this.”

“I would love to.” She sighed cheerfully, setting down her phone on the table and leaning in to watch the video. Red pressed play and low and behind, there Ashlyn was, standing on top of the desk in the corner of Red and Ricky’s room, socks off, wearing sunglasses and reciting her absolute favorite monologue from the show. 

Gina couldn’t contain her laughter. She recalled the amount of time she spent preparing lines with Ashlyn for their musical and it was enough to be ingrained in their memories forever. 

Laughter bubbled from all around the table as the video came to an end and Ashlyn couldn’t even hide her smile. She shook her head but Gina wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulders and squeezed, “Ash, you are my favorite person ever.”

The rest of the afternoon flew by just as quickly as it came. After they happily ate their dessert foods and chatted even more about their trip and gossiped about their peers, it was time to head back to the Champ de Mars to meet the rest of their schoolmates. 

The four friends walked the streets of Paris, basking in each other’s company as they made their way to the Eiffel Tower. Once they reached their classmates, the four of them broke off into their separate groups as their chaperones took attendance. 

Ricky and Gina met up with their group and they spouted off greetings and then fell into silence as their teachers explained the procedures for their visit to the famous landmark. While half listening to her teachers, Gina’s mind wandered to the boy next to her and his fear of heights. 

She reached over and grabbed his hand. He turned to look at her upon the contact and she could tell that he was trying to hold in his nerves, but she could feel his hands slightly shaking, so she leaned into him as a way to ease his anxiety. She felt him relax somewhat under her touch, but as soon as they started to head towards the entrance, his pulse skyrocketed.

“Ricky.” Gina stopped in her tracks while the rest of their classmates walked around him. Ricky looked back at her, his brows pulling together. She caressed the back of his hand with her thumb. “I’ve got you, you know that right?”

He stared back at her with those brown eyes and he nodded his head, letting out a shaky breath, “Yeah. I do.” 

Taking his word, she nodded. “Okay.” She said as they started to walk again, a ways behind the rest of their classmates, their hands still tightly clasped together.

They caught up with the rest of the group and waited in line for about ten minutes to get on the elevator up to the top. Once they were in one of the three elevators designated for visitors, the doors closed and they were on their way to the top. 

About halfway to the top, Gina looked up at Ricky, who was staring straight out the window. She held onto his hand as tight as she possibly could as she felt him tremble underneath her. She nudged him gently, “We don’t have to stay up there for long, Ricky. It’s really not a problem.”

“I’m okay.” 

“Are you sure?”

“One thousand and five percent.” 

A smile spread across her lips, “Okay.”

And then, before she knew it, the elevator doors opened and the Paris sunshine flooded in. Everyone in the elevator flooded out and beside her, Ricky exhaled deeply, “Remind me why I wanted to do this again…”

She caught his eyes and sent him a warm smile, “Because you’re only in Paris once, Bowen.”

“Of course. Yeah—definitely.” He said quickly as they stepped out onto the platform, feeling the warmth of the summer breeze hit their skin. Gina led the way while Ricky gripped onto her hand firmly, though she didn’t seem to mind at all. 

They stopped at the railing among the rest of the tourists. The view up there was insanely breathtaking, “Wow.”

She turned to check on Ricky, who was already looking at her rather than the view and her pulse skipped a beat. Her eyes asked him if he was alright and he nodded simply, before taking a peek at the view. His free hand was wrapped tightly around the railing, so much that the white of his knuckles was apparent, “This is really fucking cool. Also feel like throwing up. Or fainting. Can’t tell.” 

Gina let out a strained laugh, shaking her head, “You’re doing amazing.”

His hand trembling underneath her, Gina scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder and murmured, “Just breathe.” 

And so he did, just like he had days ago on the London Eye. In and out. In and out, until he started to relax, even just a little bit. 

A few minutes later, a voice was heard from behind the pair. And not a voice they were excited to hear. “You two are adorable. ” 

Carlos. 

“Not the time, Carlos.” Ricky said through his teeth, staring ahead at the buildings below them. Gina was ready to turn around and give him a piece of her mind, until another voice was heard from behind them. 

“But you two are adorable.” Seb gushed, clapping his hands together. Ricky and Gina exchanged a glance, knowing that they had to keep their act up for Seb. “Let me get a picture of the two of you!”

The two turned around and Ricky took another deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down. Gina wrapped her arm around his torso as they were met with Carlos and Seb, the blonde with a happy grin and the brunette with a knowing smirk on his lips. “Come on, scoot close!” Seb exclaimed, motioning for the two to get closer. 

They obliged without hesitation and Ricky wrapped his arm around her shoulders tightly, securing the two of them together. They smiled for the picture and though she could still feel his heart pounding, Ricky seemed to be a lot calmer than he was when he first stepped out. 

The blonde squealed, “This is such a cute picture, you guys. It’s one for the books. Right, babe?” He turned his phone for his boyfriend to see the picture. 

Carlos looked at the photo and then to the fake couple with a grin, “The cutest. I’ll get it framed for the two of you, yeah?”

Carlos Rodriguez really knew how to push their buttons, and do it well. 

Gina zipped a happy smile to her lips, “No, that won’t be necessary Carlos. I got it, thanks. Seb, can you send it to me?” 

“Yes, of course!” Seb beamed, turning his attention to the view in front of them. His eyes traveled over to the binoculars provided in the corner. “Los, come on—they have binoculars!”

And just like that, Seb and Carlos were gone just as fast as they came which allowed the fake couple to take a breather. Gina watched Seb and Carlos from a distance as they took turns on the binoculars, her eyes scanning the platform to see her classmates, among other tourists basking in the view.

Her gaze landed on EJ and Kourtney, who were posing for a picture being taken by Nini. Gina’s heart warmed as she watched EJ plant a kiss on his crush’s cheek and an obvious blush rise to Kourtney’s face. 

Once the pictures were taken, the water-polo captain caught her stare and a grin spread across his lips. He sent her a thumbs up and a smile broke out on her lips as she sent him a thumbs up back. His woo-Kourtney Eiffel Tower plan definitely seemed to be successful. 

“I’m sure you love to be taking care of my fear of heights on your first time to the Eiffel Tower, huh?” Ricky let out a shaky laugh, still weary from being so high in the sky. 

“Honestly?” She hummed, looking up at him warmly. “There’s no one I’d rather be with.”

Soon after they found Big Red and Ashlyn, who had been taking a lot of pictures of each other with the view. The four friends took pictures together, candids, and even took turns taking care of Ricky and his death grip on the railing while taking photos. 

The time on top of the Eiffel Tower had come to a close and now it was time to head to their dinner. 

On their way to the restaurant, Gina sent an array of different photos to her mother ranging from different pieces of art at the Louvre to a photo of her croissant to the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. She may have even snuck in a picture of her and Ricky. 

Once they arrived at their spot for dinner, the chaperones instructed everyone to sit with their groups, much to Ricky and Gina’s dismay. When they met up with their group, Gina not only noticed the distance between Nini and Elias but the way that Nini had been eyeing the fake couple, who stood with their fingers intertwined.

“I’m going to run to the restroom.” Gina had said once they reached their table. 

Nini shifted on her feet, “I was just about to say that.” 

Ricky glanced between both Nini and Gina. The curly haired girl sent him a smile and turned on her heel towards the bathroom, “Let’s go, girl.” 

It took Nini a few seconds to respond, but she eventually followed Gina all the way to the bathroom. Right away the curly haired girl ducked into a stall, did her business and exited the stall, heading straight for the sink.

Gina was trying to wash her hands as quickly as possible so she didn’t have to engage in any conversation with her fake boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. She was halfway through scrubbing her hands when Nini emerged from one of the stalls and their eyes met through the mirror.

The taller girl plastered a believing smile to her lips and she nodded in acknowledgment. Nini sent her a stiff smile, walking over to the counter quickly and turning the faucet on. The tension that loomed in the air was nothing short of excruciating. The large bathroom they stood together in had suddenly turned cramped and Gina wanted to run out of there, but she knew she had to be the bigger person.

After about five seconds, she pursed her lips and turned her gaze towards Nini in the mirror, “How was your day?”

Nini, who was caught by surprise, snapped her head up with wide eyes, “It was fun.”

“That’s great.” Gina replied warmly, still scrubbing her hands under the running water.

A few more seconds passed. “How was your day?” The girl asked in return.

“It was a lot of fun. Paris is incredible.” 

“Nice.” Nini hummed not-so thoughtfully. 

Gina’s brown eyes lingered on Nini for a few moments and she really wondered just what kind of hold she had on Ricky—a question that she had asked herself far too many times throughout this trip. But that question shouldn’t bother her as much as it does because he can be interested in whoever he wants to be interested in. 

She swallowed, her mind wandering to Nini’s current boyfriend, the boy who she used to have a crush on. She toyed with the idea of lo asking about the status of their relationship since it seems to be on the rocks at the moment.  A minute passed and Gina reached for the paper towels, “Is everything… okay between you and Elias?”

That tension splintered the air between them once again. It took Nini a moment before responding, “We’re– we’re just in a little fight, that’s all.”

Gina nodded slowly, drying off her hands, “I understand.”

Nini chewed on her bottom lip, clearly not wanting to have this conversation just as much as Gina, “You and Ricky seem to be so happy, that’s… um, great. Looks like you two have fun together.”

Gina weighed her options. She could rub it in her face and tell her, yes, they have so much fun together. It’s the best time. Or she could drop a hint that there might be trouble in paradise here too, even though it’s just another reminder of what isn’t hers. 

There’s a long pause and Gina frowned, “Not everything is what it seems, Nini.”

Silence filled the air and Nini’s face held a confused expression as she tried to piece together what exactly that meant. Her mouth opened, then closed and she continued to stare back at Gina with a completely dumbfounded expression. 

Gina pressed her mouth into a line, ducked her head and made a b-line towards the bathroom exit, leaving Nini standing alone in the bathroom. 

She wished she didn’t have to drop any hints that their fake relationship was near its end, but their upcoming fight couldn’t be out of nowhere. There had to be at least a shaky foundation for it to be convincing, more to Nini rather than the rest of their peers. 

She quickly retreated back to the table, where the three boys sat together, looking like they were completely out of place. She took her place next to Ricky, who met with a soft smile and she could feel the tingles ripple to her toes. 

Almost a minute later, Nini made her way back to the table. Once she sat down, a long quiet settled over the table and Carlos whistled, breaking the silence, “Well, this is more awkward than reunions with mis tíos.” 

Gina could feel the brunette across the table staring a hole into the side of her head, which was a given after she dropped that bomb in the restroom, so she turned her attention to the rest of the table with a forced laugh, “So, what did you all think of the Louvre?”

“It was insane.” Elias replied, shaking his head. “It took me and the boys like two hours to get through the first hall.”

“Seb and I went straight to the Mona Lisa. Had to see that lady in the flesh first thing.” Carlos said.

“I don’t blame you. It was pretty amazing seeing it in person.” Nini chimed in. 

Elias, who sat beside her, didn’t even bat an eyelash her way, instead he cleared his throat. “Glad to see you’re feeling better today, Gina.” He said, glancing between both her and Ricky. 

A genuine smile spread across her lips, “Yeah. I was just pretty run down, you know? This trip has been go, go, go and not much time to rest. But I got lots last night.”

The blonde nodded thoughtfully, a light chuckle leaving his throat, “I get it. I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed once we get home.” 

“Amen to that.” Carlos agreed, leaning back in his chair.

Gina opened her mouth to respond, but her thoughts were cut off by the feeling of fingers being intertwined with her own. She looked over to see Ricky smiling softly at her and her heart hammered in her ears, but when she felt the skeptical eyes of his former flame, she needed to keep the act up. So, she pressed her lips in a line and ripped her hand from his grasp.

The flash of disappointment in his eyes was hard to miss and a pang of guilt washed over her when she realized she hadn’t uncovered the reason why she let go. 

As simple chatter unfolded amongst the group, she couldn’t help but notice her fake boyfriend had fallen quiet. Gina reached for his hand underneath the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Almost immediately, his eyes lit up and he began to make conversation with the group. 

The remaining parts of their dinner were filled with the same small talk that usually filled the air, the snide remarks from Carlos and 

feverish looks from Nini, who seemed to be watching Ricky and Gina under a microscope the entire time. 

Gina tried not to be too flirty or touchy with Ricky their entire dinner, though she wanted to be for a reason unbeknownst to her. It was hard making conversation with everyone but him, and he seemed to pick up on the act because he didn’t try to be overly couple-y throughout the rest of the night. 

“Sucks that tomorrow’s our last day.” Elias frowned as the group got up from their table.

“Yeah.” Ricky agreed, a small sigh escaping his lips. Gina glanced over to him to find that he was already looking at her. “I never want it to end.”

━━━━━━

Once the travel group arrived back at their hotel for the night, Ricky and Gina had said their goodbyes in the lobby. The girls settled into their room and Gina fell back onto the bed with a groan, “Oh, Ash, how do we only have one more day left? It felt like yesterday that we were packing our bags.”

Ashlyn mirrored her action and fell back onto her own bed, “I knoooow .”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” Gina said as she stared up at the high ceiling. 

“That it does.” Ashlyn responded slowly. “That it does.”

Gina turned her phone on and looked at the time. It was only 8:30 in the evening. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked over at Ashlyn, “What do you want to do?”

The redhead pursed her lips, “We could watch a movie? Or sit on the balcony–” she paused abruptly as her phone vibrated and she held up her finger, not looking up from her phone, “hold that thought.” 

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion but patiently waited for her best friend to continue spouting out ideas of their evening plans. 

After a moment a strange sound escaped from Ashlyn, along with a large grin forming on the corner of her mouth. Gina watched in both confusion and curiosity as the girl remained silent but typed furiously on her phone. Who the hell was she texting?

“Uh…” Gina sat up, “Ash?”

Ashlyn looked up from her phone, the devilish grin promptly still on her lips.

“Are you okay?” Gina asked, still beyond confused.

“Get up!” The girl said suddenly, hopping up from her bed, “You are going out.”

“ Me? Why? What are you talking about?” She responded in a series of questions, her eyes widening in both surprise and confusion. She watched as her best friend walked over to her in a frenzy, tugging at her arm for her to get up from the bed. “Ash–”

“Get up!” The redhead tugged again, but Gina stayed where she sat on her bed, completely perplexed.

“Are you going to explain to me where on earth I’m going?” 

Ashlyn pursed her lips, “I’m not allowed to disclose that information. But it may have something to do with your faux boyfriend though.” 

“Ricky?”

“You aren’t in any other fake relationships, are you? Jeez, I thought one was enough.”

Normally, Gina would have laughed at that sarcastic remark, but her thoughts were clouded by the fact that Ricky had something planned for them to do tonight—no classmates, no chaperones, no Nini. It caused excitement to bubble in her chest at the mere thought. But what did he planned for them? And why was it so secretive? Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute.

“Let’s go. We have to meet the boys downstairs in five minutes.” Ashlyn tugged at her best friend once more and this time she obliged.

Once they slipped their shoes on and Gina grabbed her backpack, they were out the door and she had barely any more time to process any of what was going on. A frown encompassed her mouth when she realized Ashlyn would be left alone.

“What are you going to do? I don’t want to leave you alone.”

Ashlyn stopped in her tracks and turned to her best friend, “Gina, I love you, but I know you would rather be hanging out with Ricky tonight than with me. I get it. But, since you are so concerned, Big Red asked if I wanted to get gelato. So there’s that.”

Gina opened her mouth to protest, but then didn’t say anything. Her best friend was right. She could imagine herself sitting in their hotel room together, watching a movie, and her mind would most definitely wander to the boy that she’s been spending all of her time with. That’s a problem.

She pressed her lips into a line and then glanced down at her attire. Was she supposed to change? What exactly were they doing? 

“Oh. Well, I’m glad you and Big Red are hanging out.” She finally responded after a few moments on their elevator ride downstairs.

“Yeah, me too. We’re kinda like this. ” Ashlyn held up her hand, crossing her pointer and middle fingers, earning a small laugh from Gina. 

Once the girls were in the lobby, they were greeted by the sight of their two friends waiting idly in the front foyer. Warmth erupted in Gina’s stomach as her eyes settled on Ricky. He wasn’t wearing his usual getup, instead he wore a plain white t-shirt underneath a sharp bomber jacket on top with black jeans and his vans. He looked… wow. 

Where the hell were they going?

“Damn, what took you guys so long? We don’t want Mazzara on our ass in broad daylight!” Ricky said with a grin as soon as he saw them, his eyes lingering on Gina for a few moments.

“It’s almost dusk, Bowen.” She responded with an equally as big grin.

He glanced out the doors to look at the sky, where the sun was setting outside. “Still light out.”

Gina rolled her eyes and said hello to Big Red, who stood with a sweet smile on his face. As the four teenagers easily made their way out of their hotel and right into the city, they were immediately greeted by the sight of the Eiffel Tower and its twinkling lights. 

Ricky was staring down at his phone, looking at directions with total concentration. He clicked his phone a few times before looking up with furrowed brows, “We go right. I think.”

“Well, gelato is left.” Red replied with a warm smile.

“Have fun you two.” Ashlyn hummed as she began walking in the opposite direction with a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. She pointed at Ricky, “Have her back at a reasonable time!”

He shot his hands up in defense, “No promises!”

“Bye guys!” Gina called back to her friends as she walked side by side with Ricky. After their responses became muffled by the distance and the city’s chatter, she turned to Ricky with a curious gaze, “Where the heck are you taking me, Bowen?”

“It’s a surprise.” He shrugged his shoulders, a smug expression capturing his features. 

She eyed him like she was trying to read his mind. Results came back inconclusive. “Does it have to do with… gelato?”

He laughed, “No. But do you want it to have to do with gelato?”

“Possibly.”

“Then we can get gelato after.” 

“Now you’re talking.”

He chuckled and glanced down at his phone, following the map closely, “We turn left up here.” He jerked his chin towards the next street corner. 

Gina let curiosity get the best of her and she tried to take a look at the GPS on his phone, but he caught her in the act and snatched his phone away from her line of sight, “No way, pretty girl. It’s a surprise. Need to look that one up in a dictionary?”

She scoffed playfully and shoved him, “You’re evil.” 

The laugh that left his mouth was contagious and Gina couldn’t help but laugh along with him. It was the moments like these that were her favorite, where they could joke and be playful together without having to put on a show for anyone. 

They walked and walked for at least twenty minutes, but Gina didn’t mind one ounce. Paris was a dream in and of itself, and with Ricky beside her, it felt too good to be true. Every street corner was something new and breathtaking and magical, especially now that the day was turning into night and the buildings were beginning to light up. Gina never wanted to leave, she wanted to stay here in Paris forever.

And then they were met with a large palace-like building with stunning architecture in the center of the intersection, which was heavy with traffic – people going in and out – and Ricky came to a halt. Gina glanced over to him with wide eyes, “Why did you stop?”

“We’re here.”

She glanced between him and the building and back to him again.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, “Everyone deserves to live out their dream. Especially you.”

Her lips parted as she noticed everything all at once. The glamorous building. The even more glamorous people going in and out. The banner scaling the front of the building—it was her dream. The ballet. He brought her to the ballet. 

“I know we’re, like, not dressed for the occasion and I don’t have tickets—trust me, I looked, but it wouldn't hurt if we tried.”

His words were going in one ear and out the other. Everything was moving in slow motion around her and she was even finding it hard to breathe. No one had ever done anything like that for her before. 

“Ricky, you’re not serious!” Gina finally managed to spit out as she still gaped up at the building with the biggest grin on her lips.

He chuckled lightly, running his fingers through his hair, “Of course I’m serious, Porter. You said you wanted to go to the ballet…” he trailed, gesturing towards the opera building, “here we are.”

This boy… oh Lord.

“Oh my God.” She whispered, shaking her head in utter disbelief.

“Are you okay?” He tried to find her eyes, but she continued to stare at the picturesque structure in front of her. 

“You’re unbelievable.” She whispered in shock, her heart beating a mile a minute. She turned to Ricky, “We can’t… we don’t even have tickets!”

“So? You’re not going to let two measly pieces of paper get between you and your dream, are you?”

“Ricky– that’s illegal.” She replied, a laugh bubbling in her chest, “what if we get caught?”

He stuck his hand out between them. She looked down at it, and back up at him, her brows furrowing. He flashed a wicked smile, his dimples coming to sight, “Let’s just not get caught.”

His words instantly took her back to that night in Berlin, when they were sneaking back into the hotel and trying to avoid their chaperones catching them. This was a very different situation in which they could end up potentially being thrown in a French jail. That would be horrifying.

But her curiosity of what was waiting for them inside the building and the fact that Ricky planned this whole thing was clouding her judgement, and the adrenaline was already beginning to pump through her veins, adding an extra sense of confidence to wash over her. She bit down on her lip and shook her head, “You’re insane.” She stated before grabbing his hand without hesitation. “You’re crazy… you’re–”

“The best?” He said with a devilish grin.

A blush crept up her neck. “The best.” She repeated with a nod.

With a squeeze of her hand, Ricky guided them across the street and up the stairs to the front entrance. Gina could hear her heartbeat in her ears as they approached the entrance and followed the swarm of people headed inside and, hell, if they didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. The attendees were all dressed formally in suits and gowns where the two of them look like they just got ready for a school day. 

This was most definitely going to backfire, but it was worth a shot. 

Upon entering the building, two separate lines formed at the marble staircase leading up to the theatre, where tickets were being scanned. “Oh my God,” she whispered, gripping Ricky’s hand so tight that she was surprised he hadn’t let go in agony, “we’re going to jail.”

“Act normal, Porter.” Ricky said as calmly as he could. “Just like we’ve been all week.”

She took a deep breath and put on her brace face, though she was a bucket of nerves underneath it all. As they waited in the line, she took the time to admire her surroundings just in case this whole thing blew up in their face. It was beautiful, and just what she had imagined this place would look like. 

As she scanned the lavish architecture, her eyes landed on a doorway leading down to a corridor that had few people roaming around and without another thought, she held her breath and dragged Ricky down the corridor. 

“Wha– where are we going?” He sputtered in surprise, gaining glances from other visitors.

“We’re not getting past those guards without a ticket.” Gina stated simply, walking as if she now owns the place. “There’s gotta be another way.”

And so they walked down the almost empty corridor, both gaping at the architecture of the opera. They strolled all the way down to the end of the corridor and wound up finding yet another marble staircase. Ricky turned to her with wide eyes, “If we get murdered, I just want you to know this is the best fake relationship I’ve ever been in.”

“Ditto.” She responded, a sweet smile on her face. She looked ahead up the stairs, “But hopefully they get you first and I have time to run.”

He gripped his chest, feigning offense, “Ouch.”

She giggled and they climbed the stairs, and luckily, had no encounters with a murderer. Instead, they found themselves on the second floor in yet another sparsely populated corridor. 

“This place is fucking huge.” Ricky said lowly as they peered around the corner to see if there were any security guards around. 

She was about to respond, but the pair heard faint chatter coming from the far end of the corridor and they glanced at each other with wide eyes. They scrambled and pretended to be interested with the painting on the wall in front of them while Gina’s heart sunk to her chest. 

Down the hall, two tall men who seemed to be opera workers were bickering in French, until one of them cut their conversation to an abrupt stop. She held her breath and held firmly onto Ricky’s hand. 

“Hé! Vous là-bas!”

All her years of French classes had finally paid off in that moment when she had realized that he had just called for them. He had just called her and Ricky. And they were probably going to jail. 

“Oh God.” She whispered.

“What did he say?”

“He called us.”

“Oh shit.” He whispered and stared straight ahead at the painting. 

“Hé!” The man called again, his voice louder now that he was closer.

“Fuck. Fuck.” Ricky said under his breath as they turned to meet the man, both plastering innocent smiles on their faces and hoping for the best. This is it—they’re going to jail and then Gina is going to have to explain to her mother why the hell she was arrested on her school trip. Instant death sentence.

“Monsieur Antoine Lavigne et Madame Liliane Toussaint?” The man tilted his head, looking between the two skeptically and then down at their attire, clearly not what he had been expecting.

Gina’s lips parted in surprise. She had fully expected this man to call the police on them, not for him to mistake them for someone else. Not running through any of the possibilities of where it could go wrong, she decided that this might be their ticket in.

She and Ricky exchanged a glance before she nodded her head stiffly and cleared her throat. “Oui…” she said slowly and as convincingly as she possibly could. 

The worker stared at the two for a few moments longer, a look of confusion in his eyes, but then he grunted and turned on his heel, mumbling something along the lines of “follow me.” 

She looked up at Ricky who had a look of horror on his face and he mouthed, “What the fuck is he saying?”

Gina shrugged, glancing at the man in front of them as they followed on his heels, “Just go with it.” She hissed under her breath, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Both nerves and concern flooded through her body all at once as the worker came to a halt and whipped around, looking down at the two from the bridge of his nose. When they stared up at him blankly, horror slowly seeping into their expressions, he gestured toward the curtain, “Vos places.”

Oh, thank God for simple vocab. Gina gave him a curt nod and swallowed her nerves, “Merci.” And without another word, she dragged Ricky through the curtains and onto the balcony where they stood on the second level, to the left of the stage. 

A small gasp escaped her lips as she admired the auditorium. In the middle of the room, a bronze and glass chandelier hung over the heads of the guests. Each red balcony was filled with guests of high prestige and the seats below were almost completely filled, filling Gina’s stomach with excitement and anticipation.

“Care to explain… how we got here? ” Ricky finally said as he too admired the opera house. 

“The man thought we were Antoine and Liliane. For some reason.”

“So we snuck into the Paris ballet and are committing identity theft all in one night? Damn.” Ricky said in a hushed voice as he sat down in the seat beside him.

“This is insane.” Gina sat down next to him, a smile growing on her lips. “I can’t believe this.” She looked over at the boy next to her and met his sincere brown eyes, butterflies immediately fluttering in her stomach. 

Their eyes stayed connected for a few beats too long until she averted her gaze to the bustling room below them. He chuckled, “What happens when Antoine and Lily—or whatever the hell her name is—show up?”

“Absolutely no idea.” She laughed breathlessly.

“Good to know there’s still a possibility of being arrested.” He grinned, earning a giggle from Gina.

“I can’t believe you brought me here.” She said in awe as she still took in her surroundings, excitement and anticipation coursing through every vein in her body. 

Before he could respond, the lights went dark in the auditorium, signaling that the show was about to begin. The elegant music began to sound through the opera house, causing a wide grin to break out on Gina’s lips. She glanced over to Ricky, who had been already watching her with a ghost of a smile.

She turned her gaze to the stage, where the curtains began to open. She sat up straight with eagerness and a wild heart, awaiting the dancers to file onto the stage. And when they did—it was magical. They floated across the stage in a way that was so effortless and made chills run up and down every inch of her body. 

It was like she was a little girl again, watching the upper-level ballet dancers in awe at her dance studio after dance practice had concluded while she waited for her mom to pick her up. She loved the way that ballet made her feel and she loved the way that she could connect with the stories behind the dance. She loved it. She loved this. 

She looked to the boy beside her, who sat with wonder-filled eyes as he watched the performers on stage and her heart beat wild against her chest. With all the feelings that flowed through her body, she wanted so badly to reach over and kiss him to let him know how much this meant to her—how much he meant to her. But of course, that wasn’t an option. Why would it ever be an option?

Oh, how complicated things were.

So she reached for his hand and squeezed it gently, causing him to tear his eyes away from the stage and over to Gina. As soon as he saw the smile on her face, he lit up and returned his gaze to the dancers on the stage.

She was so happy in that moment. With Ricky beside her, in that room full of her dreams, she couldn’t think of a time that she was happier. 

Everything was perfect for the first twenty minutes of the show. Until Ricky turned to Gina, who was lost in the performance, with a concerned brow. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Voices. Commotion.” He whispered.

She listened closely. Behind the opera music, there was indeed some commotion happening. And it was close. Too close.

And before they knew it, the curtain opened from behind them to reveal two teenagers about their age. There stood a lanky boy with a completely disheveled expression and a girl with long blonde hair, a pointed look across her face as she stared at the two people sitting in their seats. Antoine and Lily. 

“Oh, we’re going to jail.” Ricky said aloud while they all stared at each other in confusion. Just off the balcony, the ballet was still happening and the music remained on full blast throughout the opera house. 

Gina hopped to her feet in terror, slipping on the biggest smile she could muster up, sticking her hand out, “Bonjour!”

Ricky stood up quickly next to her, a guilty grin on his lips, “Bonjour… too.” 

The two teenagers stared back at them in both horror and disgust. The blonde girl, presumably Lily, turned to the boy with wide eyes, “Américains.”

Antoine’s brows knitted together in confusion, looking between Ricky and Gina over and over again. He paused for a moment, then glanced down at their outfits with a sneer, “Américains.” He repeated.

“ Damn, are our outfits really that bad?” Ricky groaned and Gina hit him in his arm as if she were telling him this was not the time.

And then the pair across from them started speaking French in a hushed tone, too fast and quiet for Gina to understand but by the look of it, whatever they were saying was not good for the two Americans. Parisian jail time seemed to be in their imminent future. 

Gina's heart slammed against her chest as Lily started to make her way off of the balcony in a rush, most likely to summon a security guard. She glanced over to Ricky with wide eyes and then she looked back at the exiting blonde, “Hey! Wait!” 

The girl stopped in her tracks, glancing back at her in alarm. Gina’s brown eyes flickered between both the girl and the boy while she tried to come up with something to save their asses. In one Swift movement, she grabbed Ricky’s hand and pointed across the opera house with their free hand, “Look!”

Falling for it, the two French teenagers turned their attention to what Gina had been pointing at, whatever that was. And the curly haired girl took it as their opportunity to get the hell out of there, so she tugged on Ricky’s hand with a force and ran the two teenagers over, running off of the balcony in a rush. 

They ran down the corridor as fast as they could as soon as they heard the shouting coming from behind. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to find the stairwell they had used earlier to get to the second floor. They ran, hand in hand through the visitors that littered the corridors, causing chaos to ensue around them. 

With guards calling after them and following close behind, they finally found their way to the front door and bursted through them, almost knocking them off of the hinges to get away from the security that followed on their tails. 

“This is crazy, Bowen!” Gina exclaimed as she looked back while they descended the stairs outside of the opera. 

“Keep going, Gina-ballerina!” He tugged on her hand, guiding them to the sidewalk. “We’ll lose them eventually!” He said through heavy breaths.

And so they jogged as far as they could, until they believed that there was no way for the guards to catch them anymore. They landed themselves a few blocks from the opera, hearts beating out of their chest and their breaths caught in their throats. 

Gina exhaled audibly, “Holy shi –”

“Do not tell me you’re going to curse, Porter.” Ricky laughed, his head falling back.

“This situation called for swearing!” She defended herself, a giggle bubbling in her chest. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

The boy shook his head in disbelief and a few moments later, he sighed audibly, “Sorry you didn’t get to see all of it.”

Gina’s head snapped over in his direction, looking at him like he had grown two heads, “Are you kidding, Bowen? Those twenty minutes were the best twenty minutes of my life! I wouldn’t change it for one second.”

He stared over at her for a moment, like he was trying to figure out if she was bluffing. He kicked the sidewalk, a shrug on his shoulders, “I just wanted you to have this.”

Her heart skipped a beat and a flutter unleashed in her stomach. She walked over to him, taking his hand, “Ricky,” he glanced up at her, eyes twinkling under the light. “This meant the absolute world to me. More than you will ever know. I want you to know that.”

They stayed there like that for a few moments, gazing into each other’s eyes with complete sincerity. His lips twitched upwards into a half smile, before he ducked his head, “So, a celebratory we-didn’t-get-arrested gelato on me?”

She grinned, “Let’s do it.”

━━━━━━

After finding somewhere that served gelato, the fake couple found a bench to sit right along the Seine River. They sat down on the bench together and ate their ice cream in a comfortable silence, reflecting on the day’s events. 

“So,” Ricky cleared his throat after a few minutes. “What was that about, you know, at dinner? Not holding my hand.”

Gina looked down at her cup and laughed lightly, “Oh. I kind of dropped a hint to Nini that we’re having problems. So I had to keep up the act.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “I thought you were mad at me or something.”

“Mad at you? Never.” 

He hummed in response, staring straight ahead at the view of Paris’ skyline in front of them.

As a silence fell over them, Gina’s thoughts drifted to the fact that tomorrow was their last day on their trip and that they would have to go back to school and go on with their lives again. A bitter taste crawled up her throat. The last ten days had been a dream. A dream that she didn’t want to ever wake up from.

A week from now, they’ll be preparing for their graduation and then she will be off to New York to see her mom. And she would only see her friends on holidays. A prick of sadness washes over Gina at the thought, especially since this could be one of her last nights with Ricky. And she desperately needed to get that off of her mind.

“I always thought you could tell a lot about someone based on their favorite holiday.” Gina said out of the blue, leaning back on the bench. “What’s yours?”

“I think Halloween.” Ricky responded, setting his empty cup of gelato on the seat beside him. A moment passed and he laughed softly, “Actually, no, that’s a lie. It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Gina gasped lightly, a grin ghosting her lips, “Wait, seriously?”

He met her eyes with a shy smile, “Yeah.”

Her smile grew wider, “Ricky Bowen, you’re a romantic!”

“That I am, Gina Porter. That I am.” 

It fit him so well—Valentine’s Day, being his favorite holiday. He was a listener and he paid attention to details, just like he had shown her tonight with the ballet. She could vividly imagine him going all out for the person he loves and how thoughtful and specific it all would be, and it made her heart fill with nothing but happiness. 

“I love that.” 

He rolled his eyes and ducked his head as if he were trying to hide the blush creeping up on his face, though she wouldn’t be able to tell since they were under the night sky. 

She scoffed lightly, “No, Ricky, I’m serious. I love that about you.”

He lifted his head and his eyes lingered on her for a few beats, causing Gina’s stomach to twist with warmth. And then he cleared his throat, running his hand through his hair, “What about you? Your favorite holiday, I mean.”

She smacked her lips together and shrugged, “Halloween.”

He tilted his head in surprise, “Really?”

“Yeah. I love planning costumes months in advance and putting them together—oh, sometimes I hand make my costumes, it’s a lot of fun. Plus, the playing pretend part is pretty exciting too. It’s nice to forget for a night.”

“I get that.” He smiled thoughtfully, “Do you know what you’re going for this year?”

“I have a few ideas. But I think I want to go as Rizzo or Sandy from Grease… yeah.” She bit down on her bottom lip to contain her excitement. 

“I love Grease. A classic.”

“That I can agree on, unlike Night at the Museum.” Gina laughed.

“Hey! Don’t knock it until you’ve watched it, Porter.”

“Fine. But I’m adding Grease to the list.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He hummed, a comfortable smile on his lips. He picked at the small tear in his jeans in thought for a few moments before he released a small laugh, “Maybe you can come back home in October and I can be the Danny to your Sandy.”

She never thought it could happen, but Gina’s heart grew ten times bigger at that moment. Was he implying that he would do a couples costume with her? Or was this a strictly friends matter…

“You’d probably have to check in with Nini first.”

Out of all the things she could say… she had to go with that one.

When they were with each other, it felt like they were in this unstoppable bubble and nothing could ruin their time together, except for when his ex-girlfriend was brought up. Even a single mention of her, and their bubble is popped and everything becomes a screaming reality. Gina hated it.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them and Gina wished she could take it back, even if it was true to a certain extent. She bit her tongue and was about to say something again, but he had beaten her to it.

He let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

And then he abruptly grabbed his empty cup, reached for Gina’s and got up all in one breath. He strided over to the nearest wastebasket and threw their trash away. Gina watched as he then stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket, seeming to be fiddling with something in his left. 

She got up from the bench and walked over to the railing that overlooked the Seine River below them. She held the railing as she admired the water and the city lights at once, feeling the comforting summer breeze on her bare skin.

He met her at the railing, taking in the city’s breathtaking skyline just as she was. Gina glanced over at him as he admired the city of lights and butterflies erupted in her stomach. He was beautiful under dim street lights and she wanted nothing more than to take a mental picture of this moment so she could remember it for eternity. 

Then he met her gaze, catching her in the act, but she didn’t care. 

“I can’t believe we only have one more day left… then we have to go back to Salt Lame City.” He finally said, an amused smile on his face as he waited for her reaction. 

Gina’s lips curled up into a small smile, “Funny.”

“No seriously, it’s going to suck ass going back home. School and graduation, having to see both my parents and Todd… God help me.” His expression turned sour at the mention of his mother’s significant other. Gina reached over and squeezed his hand without any hesitation.

He glanced down at their hands for a beat too long and then lifted his head, his eyes fixated on the rushing river in front of them.

A minute of silence loomed between the pair. 

“You know,” Ricky turned to her, “my life the past couple years has been kind of shit, everything with my parents and the divorce, Nini… but you and this trip have kind of been the best thing to happen to me in a long time.”

“Me too.” It was true. Besides the Caswells, Gina’s never found someone that understands her like Ricky does. They’re vulnerable with each other, but they don’t let it ruin anything between them and she’s never been like that with… well, anyone really. 

He had a genuine smile on his face as he looked back at her. A smile that filled Gina’s stomach with an immense amount of warmth and comfort. 

Then, his smile turned into a playful smirk, “Aw, Porter, you’re so going to miss me.” He nudged her, his teasing tone sending a blush to creep onto her cheeks. 

She pursed her lips, letting out a choked laugh, “Yeah. I am.”

His eyes held a look of surprise. She knew that he was expecting her to make fun of him and tease him back, but she didn’t. 

His gaze was intense, so her eyes settled on the rushing river below them when quiet filled the air between them. Nothing but the sounds of the river’s water rushing underneath them could be heard. Gina felt so much at ease in that moment with Ricky beside her.

“Hey, um, I got you something.” He had said suddenly whilst fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket. 

Gina looked over at him, her brows raised in surprise, “You got me something?”

He brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck, and if Gina could guess, a small blush would be evident on his cheeks if it were daylight. She turned to him fully, tilting her head as she looked over at the visibly nervous boy in front of her.

“Uh, it’s really nothing, I just…” he swallowed and reached for the item in his pocket. Gina looked down at what he held in his hand, and her breath hitched, knowing exactly what they were immediately after one glance.

There were four silver charms in the palm of his hand, resembling each of the four cities they visited over the past week. A charm resembling Big Ben, a Brandenburg Gate charm with an engraved Berlin at the bottom, a Charles Bridge charm and, of course, an Eiffel Tower charm.

“I don’t know, I guess I didn’t really think about wrapping them and they don’t have to go on your mom’s charm bracelet—I know how much that one means to you–they could even go on a completely different one if you want or, I mean, you don’t ever have to wear them at all… It’s really dumb–”

Gina tore her eyes away from the four charms, her heart beating loud as she stared up at the rambling boy in front of her. She couldn’t find any words to say as she gazed up at him, so she took it upon herself to wrap her arms around him tightly. 

“ Woah, ” Ricky laughed into her shoulder upon the impact, wrapping his arms around her just as tight, “you almost made me drop them.”

She couldn’t help the smile that was forming on her lips. “Shut up,” she spoke softly into his shoulder, melting in his arms, “It’s not dumb at all. I love them.”

He relaxed under her words, “You do?”

She nodded, her heart filling with something so very unfamiliar, “I do, Ricky.”

No one had ever done anything like this for her in her entire life. Yes, her mom, but that’s just because she’s her mother. She was supposed to do things like this. 

But Ricky… he put thought and effort into this gift and spent his own money when he didn’t have to. It was the least thing she would have expected from him, from a boy that she’s only known for over a week. He just kept surprising her in the best ways.

“Should we put them on?” He asked into her hair.

“Mhm.” She hummed in response, not wanting to let go of him. She liked the way they fit in each other’s arms. She liked being close enough to smell the subtle smell of his laundry detergent mixed with the slightest hint of his shampoo. She wanted to stay like that forever, just as much as she wanted to add those charms to her bracelet. 

After a few moments longer of clinging onto his body, she untangled herself from him. She looked down at the charms in the palm of his hand again and tried to say something, but nothing came out. They were standing even closer now, so much she could feel his body heat.

He reached for her hand and lifted it up, turning her wrist over gently and messing with the clasp of her bracelet. Normally, she would help him undo the clasp (which he seemed to be struggling with), but she could barely process anything at that moment. 

But after he figured it out, Ricky gently snapped the charms onto her bracelet as if he were to let go, he’d break them. The dainty charms fit in so well with the others that hung from the bracelet.

She glanced down at the bracelet present on her wrist, now with four new additions to the collection, and her heart swelled in her chest, “I just… I can’t believe you remembered. I mentioned the bracelet, like, once.”

Ricky glanced down at her, a shrug on his shoulders, “Of course I remembered.”

Gina felt butterflies race through her and her heart slammed against her chest all at once as she admired her bracelet. He remembered. She looked up at him.

“Ricky,” she breathed out softly, her voice and eyes trailing, as if she had no idea what she wanted to actually say. It was as if everything in the universe was pulling her towards him. She wondered if he felt the pull too.

His dark eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he looked over at her, his gaze strong. He rocked on his heels and hesitated a moment before responding, “Yeah?” 

Gina has never had a real home. She’s never truly had a place that she could call home. 

But this boy in front of her? The boy who she’d known for nearly ten days, the boy who’s weirdly obsessed with dinosaurs and action movies and is afraid of heights, the same boy who stole her first and second kiss, the boy who took care of her when she didn’t feel well, who brought her to the ballet and bought her charms for her bracelet… He made her feel at home. 

It was in that moment, looking up at him under the night sky, that she was finally able to admit to herself that her feelings towards Ricky weren’t just ones of a friendship. 

She wasn’t faking it anymore. 

She liked him. 

Gina liked Ricky. For real.  

She liked him in the way that he liked Nini. 

The excitement she felt upon admitting her true feelings had been replaced by an ache in her chest. It was a reminder that there was no realistic chance with the boy in front of her, that this whole thing had been because he was in love with somebody else. 

But the way he was looking at her in that moment made her think that maybe, just maybe that wasn’t the case anymore. She’d never had anyone be romantically interested in her, but there was a look in his eye that she couldn’t quite decipher. A look that made her heart slam against her rib cage and warmth swirl in her stomach; a look that made her feel like the only girl in the world.

“What?” He asked again in a whisper, clearly taking notice of Gina’s hesitation. 

She opened her mouth. The words I like you were on the tip of her tongue, but the fear of Ricky not reciprocating her feelings scared her. A lot. So instead, she swallowed those three words. “Thank you.”

His face faltered.

Was that not what he wanted to hear?

There’s a beat. A beat that she thought he left purposefully, just in case she wanted to say something else. But she didn’t.

After the beat passed, Ricky cleared his throat and licked his lips, “Of course.”

Gina swallowed thickly, feeling her heart sink to her stomach. 

He clicked his tongue and averted his eyes to the river beside them, “We should probably get back.”

Her heart sunk even further this time, down to the ground, and disappointment flooded over her. She didn’t want him to know that she was disappointed—hurt even—so she mustered up a smile and nodded her head, “No, yeah. We should… I’m really tired anyway.”

Though her heart felt heavy in that moment, she felt lighter in a sense. In the sense that she didn’t have to keep pretending that these feelings for Ricky didn’t exist, that she didn’t have to keep pretending that her feelings for him were strictly platonic. 

The walk back to their hotel was mostly quiet. Gina’s thoughts were clouded by her newest realization and she had no idea what to say to him. And apparently, he didn’t know what to say to her either. He seemed to be locked away in his own head during their journey home.

They reached their hotel and headed straight for the elevators. On their way up to her floor, Gina stole a few glances at the boy next to her. She wanted to know what was going on in that head of his, the head that he had been lost in for the past twenty minutes.

The doors opened and the two headed down the hallway, stopping in front of Gina’s room where they had stayed together the night prior. 

Seeming like he was sick of their quiet spell, Ricky chuckled softly, “I bid you goodnight, m’honey-butter-biscuit .” He said in a horrible French accent, a playful grin spread on his lips as he bowed. “I shall see you in the morning.”

A smile broke out across Gina’s lips, “You’re a dork.”

“So I’ve been told.” 

Their laughter died out into a silent abyss and Gina’s gaze settled on his soft features that made her turn into a pile of mush every single time. Now that she’d established her feelings for him, everything just made sense. 

But as they stood there, eyes locked on one another, thick tension formed in the air they shared. 

The heat rushed to her face as she stared up at him and the wild intensity of his gaze was enough to take her breath away. Ricky’s eyes flicked down to her lips before they met her brown eyes again and Gina swore she didn’t imagine it. 

Did he feel it too?

She wanted to tell him right then. She wanted to ruin everything they’ve been building by reaching her hand out and kissing him just once more. She wanted to kiss him without having to come up with an excuse. But she couldn’t.

She could hear the shaky breath that he let out before he licked his lips and tore his gaze away from her. “I should get going.”

Disappointment flooded her system, but she had no choice but to recover from it quickly with a small smile and a nod, “Of course. You gotta get some sleep.”

Half expecting a witty response, she was surprised when he turned around with just a nod of his head and made his way down the hallway towards the elevator. Her heart sunk in her chest as she watched him walk further and further from her.

“Ricky, wait.” She called out, surprising herself. 

He came to a halt and turned back to look at her, his brows furrowed in confusion, “Yeah?”

She didn’t have anything to say, she just didn’t want him to leave. Not like this at least, on their second last night together, because who knew what tomorrow would bring them. Maybe she wasn’t ready to let go.

Her feet guided her to him without a word, where she met him halfway down the hallway to the elevators. His brown eyes were wide with both curiosity and concern and looking into them made Gina’s heart pound against her chest, so much that she found herself absently fidgeting with the newest additions to her charm bracelet.

He picked up on this and glanced down to her bracelet and back up to meet her eyes. “Gi, you good?”

Yes. No. Maybe? 

She really didn’t know what she was thinking, but she knew what she felt. She felt so much for this boy that it terrified her. Everything happened so fast and she knew that even though their time together was running out, her feelings weren’t going to just disappear. 

A moment passed before she brought her arms up and pulled him into a hug, desperately clinging onto him like this was the last time she’ll ever see him. A small sigh escaped his lips as he wrapped his arms around her without any hesitation.

She buried her head into the crook of his neck while he held her against him. They stood there together for what seemed like an eternity, holding each other close and breathing in sync. She would stay exactly like this forever if she could.

“Thank you again,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“You keep thanking me.” He said in a murmur.

“I have a lot to thank you for.”

“Like what?”

Making me feel at home.

“For tonight,” she paused, “and for this trip. I can’t imagine it any other way.”

A moment passed where they breathed together. He hummed, “Me neither.” 

Gina squeezed her eyes tightly shut, not ready to let go of him. But she knew she had to, she had to say goodnight to him just like all of the other nights before. But this one felt a lot different. 

After another minute, they untangled themselves from one another, their brown eyes meeting each other’s gaze at once. A long pause stretched between the two and now she didn’t have anything to blame or a single excuse for what she was about to do. She reached up and placed her lips on his cheek in one swift movement.

As she pulled away from him and her eyes fluttered open, her heart swelled at the sight of his surprised gaze. Her lips turned upward into a small smile and then she said, “Goodnight, Ricky.” Before turning on her heel in the other direction towards her hotel room in a daze.

It took at least twenty seconds for Ricky to respond. He let out what sounded like a nervous breath before calling “Night, Gina Porter.” down the corridor. After finding her room and shutting the door behind her, her head was spinning as she went to bed that night.

This boy had her completely wrapped around his finger and he didn’t even know it. She’d fallen for him, so hard, and she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to stop. 

So what the hell was she going to do now?

Chapter Text

Ricky never planned for anything, really. Before coming on the trip, packing of all things was not on the forefront of his mind – Nini was. So the night before he left for Europe, despite being told numerous times by both his father and Big Red that he needed to start packing, he started to pack his luggage. He crammed all of his clean clothes into his duffel bag and called it a night.

So it may not come as a surprise that he was standing in front of his duffel bag in distress, as he realized he did not pack enough clean clothes for the trip. 

“We have a slight problem.” Ricky spoke into his phone, which was wedged between his cheek and shoulder while he stared down into his duffle bag full of clothes. 

“What is it?” Gina’s voice was heard from the other line, sounding a bit more nervous than usual.

Heat washed over his face. “Okay. So…” he began, coughing into his fist awkwardly. “I might not have packed enough clean shirts.”

Big Red snickered from his spot on his bed, where he sat ready for the day, waiting for his best friend to finish getting dressed. Ricky silently flipped the redhead off and sighed into the phone. He could practically see the knowing smile that was on Gina’s face. 

“Alright.” She responded, sounding as if she’s trying to think through the options. “Would it hurt to wear one of your dirty shirts?”

Oh God. Having Gina know that he was wearing a wrinkly, possibly sweat-stained shirt all day? Hell no. Not happening. 

He wiped a hand over his face and he blew a raspberry, his eyes scanning around the room for another option. Then his gaze landed on a shopping bag that had been carelessly thrown on the lounge chair in the corner of the room and his brows raised, “I do have one other option.” 

“Oh you do?”

“Yeah…”

“Alright, so we’re done here?”

“No, Porter, my one other option happens to be the I-heart-Paris shirt we bought yesterday.”

He heard a giggle from the other line and a smile broke out on the corner of his lips, “You’re laughing at me?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

“Okay so, you’ll look like a tourist. It’s not the end of the world.” A giggle contrdicated the words she spoke and Ricky groaned. After a moment, Gina clicked her tongue, “If it makes you feel better, I’ll wear mine too.”

That familiar warm fuzzy feeling crawled its way into his stomach. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

Ricky, who began to grin ear-to-ear, caught Big Red’s eyes across the room. The slight smirk at the corner of his friend’s lips were enough to wipe the smile off of his face while he headed towards the shopping bag across the room. “You really are the best, Gina Porter.”

“So I’ve been told.”

He tugged the t-shirt out of the paper bag and threw it over his shoulder, a twinge of excitement forming at the thought of matching with Gina. Well, maybe more than a twinge. “See you downstairs, yeah?”

“Yeah.” She repeated softly.

The line went quiet for a few moments and Ricky found it hard to hang up, even though they would see each other shortly. Beats passed and finally Gina was the one to break the silence with an amused tone of voice, “Bye, Ricky.”

“Bye, Gi.” And then he hung up, suddenly overwhelmed with emotions that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. He shoved his phone in his pocket and turned to Red, “I’m gonna shower.” 

“Don’t take too long!” Was the last thing he heard after he closed the bathroom door. Ricky set his belongings on the counter and looked at himself in the mirror, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared back at his reflection, his nerves bouncing up and down inside of him.

He had woken up an hour early that morning. 

Somehow he managed to get less than five hours of sleep and yet he was wide awake. And that was all thanks to Gina. 

The events of last night had been running through his mind on repeat. Bringing her to the ballet, getting chased out of the ballet, and giving her the newest additions to her charm bracelet.

He would never be able to forget the way he felt bringing her to the ballet and helping her live out a part of her dream. He didn’t know what had influenced him with the idea in the first place, but he knew that she may not have another opportunity to do it ever again, so what was stopping him from bringing her there? 

The moment that he gave Gina the charms and the look on her face when he revealed them to her was so personal, so special and he was able to create that moment for her. 

He didn’t know if he had ever felt anything like that in his life. All he wanted to do was make her happy, even if their time together was winding down. And he really hoped he did.

He didn’t know what possessed him to buy the first charm in London, a time when they were barely even friends. When he saw the charm for the first time, the image of Gina fondly looking down at her mother’s bracelet flashed in his mind and without a second thought he was on his way to the cash register. 

He couldn’t ignore the pit in his stomach that reminded him that today was the final day on their trip. Though he was ecstatic about how last night had turned out, nausea built in his stomach thinking about how it all was about to end. Reality was about to step in and change everything.

This thing with Gina had always come with an expiration but he wasn’t expecting it to come so soon. Or be this hard. 

Last night felt like a goodbye of some sort. Maybe it was the way that Gina hugged him, and how he too clung onto her like it was their last. Even before that, he could tell that there was more that she wanted to say to him, but she couldn’t let herself. More than anything he wanted to hear what she had to say and when she didn’t… it felt like a part of them was already gone. 

It wasn’t like they were never going to see each other again; they still had an incredible friendship that was going to last a lifetime, and that Ricky knew. But what would happen when they got back home? Things could change.

It was the tenth day, the last full day of their trip, the last day they would be pretending to be in love. A lot could happen in just one day, just like so much could happen in ten, and Ricky wanted to make it count. 

Trying not to let the inevitable get to him too much, he and his Gina-filled thoughts dragged himself into the bath and allowed himself to take a thirty minute shower. Besides, it wasn’t like he was at home and had his dad asking him if he pays the water bill. 

“Richard!” His best friend called through the door, once his shower surpassed the thirty minute mark.

“Sorry, Red!” He hopped out of the shower with a chuckle and began to dry himself off.

“Dude, we have five minutes before we have to be downstairs. Hurry up.”

Once he dried off and changed into his rather eccentric outfit consisting of his Paris t-shirt and black jeans, he left the bathroom and met his best friend with a sly smile, “What’s the rush? You’re never on time for class.”

“The Palace of Versailles and class are two very different things.” Big Red replied, standing with his arms crossed as he waited for his friend.

Ricky slipped on his blue vans, grabbed his phone and wallet and was ready to leave. He turned to Red and pointed towards his shirt, “What do you think?”

“It’s definitely something .” He said in response, trying to hide a small laugh, making Ricky groan. “At least Gina will be wearing hers too. I’m sure Nini’s gonna love it—it’s like that one time when we all–”

“Dude, we gotta go.” Ricky said, cutting him off, suddenly not interested in talking about his ex-girlfriend. It had dawned on him then, that he and Gina still had their plan to follow through on and his stomach churned and his nerves began to come alive again.

“Hey, just a heads up, uh… Gina and I are kinda staging a fake fight in front of everyone later. Last ditch effort to win Nini back.”

Big Red stayed silent for a few moments, tilting his head while he tried to read his best friend like he was an open book, which made Ricky’s shift on his feet uncomfortably. 

“What?” He asked after a couple of seconds, itching for his best friend to stop scrutinizing him like he was under a microscope. 

The redhead pursed his lips and shrugged, standing up straighter, “I don’t know man, are you still sure you want Nini back?”

It felt like a lump lodged in the back of Ricky’s throat all of a sudden. But even with the growing uneasiness taking over his body, he nodded his head, “Of course I’m sure, Red. Why wouldn’t I be sure?”

He shrugged in response, “Ah, no reason.”

“Duude, there’s obviously some reason.”

“Nope, none at all!” Red called while he headed out of their hotel room and down the hallway, most likely to hide from this conversation with Ricky. 

Ricky shut their door and followed him down the hall, entering the elevator with his mind plagued with so many different thoughts. He decided not to press on with whatever Big Red had just said because he didn’t want to think about it; this was their last day and he didn’t want to do anything to ruin it. 

But then again – what did he mean by it?

His thoughts were cut off by the elevator door opening to the lobby. Suddenly, his confusion was replaced by excitement as he was about to see Gina again. It had felt like too long since they had last seen each other, even if it had been less than eight hours ago.

After discovering that they were actually a few minutes late from the glares from Mazzara and a few of the other chaperones, they went over and greeted their friends. 

Ricky smiled breathlessly as he approached Gina, who wore her I-heart-Paris shirt a hell of a lot better than he did. She had tied it at the front and matched it with a pair of loose fitted jeans. His eyes traveled to the bracelet on her wrist, which now included four more charms and his heart swelled in his chest, “Nice bracelet you got there.”

Her eyes darted to her wrist and her cheeks instantly reddened. “Yeah, um…” She glanced up at him with a slight smile, taking in his appearance, “Nice shirt you got there.”

“Oh, this old thing?”

Their smiles mirrored each other’s amusement for a few moments. But after the blink of an eye, Gina’s smile faltered and she broke their eye contact, causing Ricky’s mouth to turn downwards. He watched as she crossed her arms to her chest while almost blatantly avoiding eye contact with him.

She was fidgeting with her bracelet while she paid attention to Ashlyn and Big Red’s conversation. He pursed his lips, trying to understand why she was suddenly acting nervous around him. 

“Oh wow,” their friend’s conversation was interrupted by the sound of Carlos’ voice. They all turned to see the boy standing with a grin on his face. “The two of you are matching again ?”

“Are we?” Ricky responded, his eyes moving from his shirt to Gina’s. “Woah, I had no idea!”

Her lips turned upward into an entertained smile and she turned to Carlos in disbelief, “It’s almost like we planned it. Huh.”

“Crazy.” Ricky shook his head.

Carlos stared at the two of them, seeming like he was fighting to hide back a smile, so instead he rolled his eyes. “You two are annoying.”

The two looked at each other with overly satisfied smiles. 

“Anyway,” Carlos exhaled audibly, standing straighter, “last day. Make it count.” With a wink, he was off towards the direction that his boyfriend stood.

“Carlos is out to get you two. You should probably sleep with one eye open.” Ashlyn commented as she watched the boy in question walk away. 

“I don’t even know what he wants from us.” Ricky shook his head with a laugh. His gaze turned to Gina, whose lips were pressed in a thin line, still seemingly avoiding eye contact with him. He didn’t like it one bit.

He nudged her gently, tilting his head as she looked at him. He tried to say as much as he could without saying anything, hoping that his eyes were telling her that she shouldn’t be nervous.

And he could tell that she knew what he meant. Her lips parted slightly and her cheeks flushed. 

“Last day jitters?” He said quietly, knowing full well it probably wasn’t that. He knew something was up, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. 

She shrugged her shoulders, “Something like that.”

He hummed, rocking on his feet, “I get it. I don’t want to leave either.” He sighed aloud. “But we shouldn’t be dwelling on it… Look on the bright side, we have one more day in paradise, Porter.”

She paused for a moment and huffed, “You’re right. No more dwelling here. No matter what it’s about.”

His brows furrowed slightly at her last statement, but didn’t get time to figure out what she meant by it when their chaperones started attendance. After the students confirmed their presence with incoherent mumbles, it was time to get on the bus and head to Versailles. 

On their way out of the hotel, Ricky’s gaze wandered over to Nini, who was now tagging along with Kourtney and EJ. Her best friend was deep in conversation with her new boyfriend, while Nini stood by listening to them. 

He frowned, being brought back to all of the times that Kourtney and Red had basically third wheeled with them when they dated. He remembered that his own best friend hadn’t been too thrilled when he and Nini started dating. Did he want to make him feel that way again? 

He swallowed and attempted to push down the unpleasant feeling that overcame him, only to be reminded of today’s only goal, one that felt far more difficult than it seemed: stage a breakup. 

He turned to Gina, “So are you ready? For today?”

Her brows furrowed in confusion, but then realized what he was implying, “Are you doubting my acting skills, Bowen?”

He laughed, “Of course not. You’ve been quite convincing on this trip.” 

“Oh really?” She laughed lightly.

“This is the part where you tell me I’m also a great actor and my acting skills have been plenty convincing too. Maybe even award-winning.” He joked, trying to be quiet as they mounted the bus.

She remained quiet the entire way to their seats and once they were seated she laughed, “I wish I could say your acting skills are terrible, but I think you've convinced more than enough people. Even me on some occasions.”

“Hm,” he said, tilting his head back with his eyes still on Gina. He leaned in, “well, I learned from the best.”

Her lips quirked up into a bashful smile and she turned to look out the window, all while Ricky could feel the skip of his heart. 

He settled back into his seat with a small sigh, his eyes scanning the bus full of his classmates. Gaze landing on his ex-girlfriend, he began to think just how great everything was as it is. 

So if their plan didn’t work? He might be okay with that.

━━━━━━

“One coffee with milk and two and a half sugar packets for you.” Gina held out a cup of coffee between them with a content smile on her lips. Ricky paused for a moment, having not even thought of getting a coffee this morning since his mind was elsewhere.

He looked up at her with surprised eyes and glanced down at the coffee again and took it from her grasp. “You know my coffee order?”

She nodded, taking a sip of her own drink, “Mhm.”

A warmth spread in the pit of his stomach. He brought his lips to the rim of the lid. “Thanks, Gi.”

“Anytime, honey pot.”

Their bus ride to the city of Versailles was about forty-five minutes from Paris. Before heading to the palace, where they would be spending their entire afternoon, each group went out into the city to get something to eat.

Not coming off as a surprise, Elias and Nini did not meet up with their group and only sent a quick text to their group chat saying they would be with their other friends—another sign that there may be something going on with them. And Ricky wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.

Naturally, after finding out that they were not meeting up with their group, Carlos decided to spend his time with Seb. 

And they could have hunted down their own friends and joined them for breakfast, but neither Ricky or Gina even proposed the idea. So now they sat together outside a small corner cafe that smelled of baked goods and fresh coffee. 

Sliding two pastries between them, she sat down across from him. The pastries, one that looked to be consisting of apples and the other with chocolate sprinkled over it, almost made Ricky faint at the smell of them. 

“I thought we could split them.” Gina said a little shyly, and Ricky couldn’t miss the way her cheeks turned a shade darker in the morning light. “I’m not really sure how you feel about baked apples, so I got one with chocolate, because that is always safe.”

“Really? Because I hate chocolate.”

Gina’s brows creased, “You’re lying.”

He bit on his cheek to keep himself from breaking, but a glimpse of a grin cracked and Gina caught right onto it. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, “You’re unbearable, Ricky Bowen.”

“You love it.”

“Do I?” 

“I’ve grown on you and we both know it! Ten days ago you hated my corniness but somehow my charm and sweet smile won you over.” He flashed a smile, picking his fork up and went towards the apple pastry.

Baked apples aren’t usually his thing, but they’re in France. He could remember trying his Grandma Alice’s apple pie when he was seven as clear as day and never looked back. But – would it kill him to try it? At least for Gina?

He glanced up at Gina, who hadn’t responded to him, but was looking at him with a warm smile and that familiar expression that he didn’t have a name for and suddenly, his heart was a pile of mush. So, he put the piece of pastry into his mouth with no hesitation.

And to his surprise, he actually enjoyed it. 

After a while of eating the pastries, Gina sat back in her seat and took in her surroundings. “It’s so beautiful here.”

His gaze lingered on her for a moment, itching to tell her how beautiful she looked even though she was wearing the world’s ugliest shirt. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them, “It is. Really, really beautiful.”

Before he could look away, her eyes met his and the corners of her lips quirked upwards. 

“So did you like it?” She inquired curiously.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

She bowed her head towards the plate of eaten pastries, “The apple one. I had a strong feeling you were going to be hesitant about it, but you didn’t put up much of a fight.”

He hummed, “Yeah, um, I definitely don’t like baked apples. You were right. But, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would… gotta change it up once in a while.”

A ghost of a smile mirrored her expression at the opportunity, “I’m always–”

“Right!” He finished quickly, the inside joke causing a spark of nostalgia from their first night in London. He recalled feeling so down in the dirt after seeing Nini and Elias that evening that he didn’t get to fully take in that they were in a foreign city. But Gina helped him let loose. 

His phone buzzed in his lap. He picked it up, seeing a text from his father.

What time should I be expecting you home tomorrow? Excited to hear about the trip. Send pix

“What time are we getting home tomorrow?” Ricky asked, looking up from his phone. 

“Um,” Gina began, her brows threading together in concentration. “I think we get back around 7pm. And have an hour and a half layover somewhere but I’m not sure.”

He whistled in response, “That jet lag is gonna be complete ass.”

“It is. And we’ll have to be back at school Monday morning.” She let out an exasperated sigh, sitting back in her seat. 

“Do we though? We have five more days left of high school.” He scrunched his nose. “We’re just going to sit in our classes and do nothing anyway… I say we skip Monday.” 

“Not happening. My perfect attendance record would not appreciate it.”

“Perfect attendance record. Hm. Not surprised at a—wait, you didn’t even skip on senior ditch day?” He tried to hide his grin as she shook her head.

“Well, actually, EJ convinced me to leave after second period. So technically I was still there that day.” She pointed out, playing with her napkin.

“Cute.” Ricky said and then ignored the fact that he noticed her face flush. “Anyway, how about I skip and then pick you up after your last class and we can… do something.” 

“Are you asking me to hang out with you outside of the constraints of this trip?” Gina gasped playfully. “The horror. ”

“You get to see me in my natural habitat!”

“I’ll see you in your natural habitat the second we turn on the first Night at the Museum movie and eat Red’s pizza.”

He laughed and added, “Throw a few blunts in there and I’m set for life. I’d go into hibernation.”

Gina giggled in response and grabbed her phone. Ricky did the same, realizing he still had to respond to his father. 

Think I’ll be home by 8pm! Sending pics now

He went through his camera roll and sent him an array of pictures from their visits at the infamous French landmarks, some that included Gina in the frames. His eyes lingered on the photos for a few moments too long before he pressed send and shut his phone off. 

“It’s that time.” Gina said after a while, looking up from her phone and taking the final sip of her coffee. 

“Already?” Ricky sighed audibly, a playful pout on his lips. “Damnnnn, where does the time go?”

“Time flies when you have good company.” Gina smirked playfully as she got up from her seat. Ricky followed her actions.

“You mean I’m the good company, right?”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bowen.”

And with that they were off in the direction of the buses. Versailles was much quieter than Paris, but still so beautiful. Ricky and Gina were snapping as many pictures as they could the entire walk there.

Once they arrived at the buses and roll call was taken, they took a short three minute drive to the palace. The fake couple didn’t even bother trying to meet up with their assigned group when they got off the buses and stepped foot onto the grounds. 

It wasn’t a surprise that the palace was bustling with people. It was a Saturday in early summer and it was one of the most famous landmarks in all of France. And now Ricky could see why. 

The palace was enormous and the architecture was astounding, one of the most extravagant things that he had ever laid eyes on. It was hard to wrap his head around that this was all man made. 

“Hey,” Gina said, glancing over at him while they were still outside. “Can you take a picture of me?”

“You don’t even have to ask anymore, Gi.”

“Where’s the same guy that made me say please a few days ago?”

“I know the please is implied.” He said simply, his lips turning upwards into a smile as saw her own. He watched as she walked in front of him, stopping a ways away and posing for the picture. 

He snapped about twenty photos as she changed her poses and even as she walked back to him, making great candid photos of her happy mood. Once she made her way back to him, she practically shoved him in the same direction, “Go! I want to get a picture of you too.”

“Gina, I’m sweaty and my hair is–”

“ Pleeeease ?”

He glanced over at her, instantly feeling defeat as soon as their eyes met. With a playful eye roll, he started to walk towards the spot Gina had stood, “Only one.”

“Oh yeah. Just one.” She said in response. He threw up a peace sign and smiled widely for the camera and it turned out that Gina took about forty pictures. 

Once they were inside, the first thing they did was visit the Gallery of Battles, which was one of the plenty of art galleries in the palace. After about twenty minutes, they moved into the palace’s south wing. It was all so impressive—Ricky couldn’t believe that the palace had over 2300 rooms when they had only made it to five so far. 

And then with a visit to Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, the Royal Opera house, stopping in numerous other corridors and taking dozens of pictures, the pair found themselves walking in the direction of the Hall of Mirrors. 

Ricky had been bouncing on his feet ever since they had entered the palace, there was just so much to see. So much beauty. It was incredible. He vividly remembered learning all about Louis XVI and the French Revolution his sophomore year (though he didn’t do the homework, all that information did come in handy now).

“You have to admit, Bowen, all this… history is really amazing.” She whispered as she looked at the detailed architecture of the hall.

“It’s insane.” He said as equally in awe with everything as Gina was.

The high arched ceilings were covered in colorful paintings and grand chandeliers hung from them. He’d never seen anything quite as fascinating. 

The whole time he walked the halls of the palace, he tried to wrap his head around royalty. How could someone ever live like this? How was it possible to have that much wealth, power and influence? 

“Remember how that one time you said in another life I’d be the lead in the musical?” He asked and she nodded. “Well, what if in another universe I’m the prince?”

She giggled softly, “I could totally see it. Maybe I’m a princess of another kingdom in that universe. I’d want to live this lavishly as well, I wouldn’t want you to have it all to yourself.” 

“I don’t mind sharing.” 

“Glad we agree.” She smiled and lifted her phone up to take a selfie of the two of them. Ricky leaned in instantly, shot up a peace sign and gave a crooked smile.

“I love that one.” Gina gushed as she retracted her arm. 

“Send that to me!” Ricky said at the same time his phone vibrated. He looked down and low and behold, she had already texted the photo to him. He glanced up at her, “Thanks.”

They fell into a comfortable silence while they walked and took pictures. As Ricky was admiring the glory of the historic palace, someone had suddenly bumped right into Gina, causing her to drop her phone onto the ground. 

“Oh God! Sorry!” The guy mumbled, scrambling to pick up her phone for her. 

“Oh, no, you’re okay!” Gina let out a breathy laugh as he bent down and grabbed her phone. 

Ricky watched as the guy stood up, clearly surprised at the sight of Gina and all her beauty. His brows raised and his lips parted, holding out her phone between them in a daze. After a moment of staring at her, he laughed nervously, “Sorry.”

She took her phone with a soft smile. “It’s completely fine.”

He swallowed and his lips turned up into a slight grin. “Wow, can I just say you’re beautiful?”

In an instant, all of the muscles in Ricky’s body had tensed and a knot formed in the out of his stomach as he watched the interaction unfold in front of him. A blush appeared on Gina’s cheeks, which only made the knot tighter. 

“Thank you.” She smiled sweetly.

The guy, who stood almost at the same height as Gina, nodded and reached out his hand, “I’m Jack.”

She took it, “Gina.”

Jack grinned, “ Gina. I like it.”

Ricky couldn’t help but notice how their handshake lasted a little too long, which only made him more tense. He cleared his throat and stepped forward, breaking up their interaction.

“Oh, right.” Gina laughed lightly, taking her hand away from the boy’s grasp. “Jack, this is Ricky.”

Jack’s brows raised as he sized Ricky up, an amused expression on his face. “Hey there.”

Ricky nodded stiffly, “What’s up.”

Jack’s grin deepened for some reason and he turned back to Gina, “What brings you two to Paris?”

“Our school’s senior trip. And you?” Gina inquired curiously. 

“Ah, nice. I’m just passing through. My dad’s a pilot so I go everywhere he goes.”

“Oh wow. That’s really cool, you’ve probably been to so many cool places! I actually traveled all over as a kid because of my mom’s job.”

“Really? Looks like we have a bit in common.”

A frown made its way onto Ricky’s lips as he stood by listening to their conversation. He knew it was stupid, but he and Gina already had so much in common and this was one thing that they didn’t. She had so much worldly experience while he had never traveled outside of Salt Lake City (unless you count that one ski trip with his cousins when he was 12).

That and he certainly didn’t like the way that this Jack guy was interested in Gina. It was obvious. And it made his skin crawl.

And after a few more moments, Jack looked down at his watch and sighed loudly. “As much as I would love to keep this conversation going, I need to meet my dad out front. We’re on a tight schedule.”

Gina frowned ever-so slightly and nodded, “Safe travels, Jack.”

The boy sent an appreciative nod towards her, “It was lovely meeting you, Gina. Hope I didn’t crack your phone!” He called as he started to walk off, a half smile on his lips. He paused before glancing back at Ricky, “and Rodney!”

Gina choked a laugh. Ricky’s nostrils flared and called, “It’s Ricky!”

Jack was already far down the hall, “Right— Rocky ! See ya man!”

Gina covered her mouth to hide her laugh while Ricky could still feel the irritation pricking at him. They began to walk down the Hall of Mirrors again and eventually landed themselves near an exit.

“Want to go outside, Rocky ?”

He rolled his eyes at her jab and then nodded in agreement. He took a step towards the door, “That Jack guy seemed like a total–”

“Careful words, Bowen. He was really nice.”

“A little too nice.” He mumbled as he pushed the door open for the both of them. Holding the door, he watched as Gina eyed him wearily while taking a step outside. 

Was he really that bothered by a guy showing interest in Gina? It wasn’t even a surprise – she could have all the guys in the world at her fingertips if she really wanted to. She was just that great. So, as her friend , shouldn’t he be encouraging it? 

If he were just her friend, why would Ricky be jealous ?  

The question loomed over his head for longer than he liked. So, he turned his attention to the gardens hoping that the calm would clear his mind. And to his surprise, it did.

Gina hadn’t said much since they had gotten outside. Instead, she was captivated by her surroundings and was taking pictures of as many things as she could. 

“Imagine being this rich.” Ricky thought aloud as they approached a fountain with statues and jets spraying water around.  

“Oh, to be a royal.” Gina sighed playfully, earning a small laugh from the boy.

“Would be very nice. I would make a handsome prince, might I add. I think a crown would look great on top of this head.”

She rolled her eyes in response. “Bowen, being a prince is a lot more than being rich and wearing crowns.”

“Oh, I’m aware, pretty girl. But it would be a nice perk. Run a country and look good while doing it? Sounds like a dream.”

The two continued to walk side by side down the sidewalks of the gardens together, their hands brushing every-so often as they strolled in a comfortable silence. Ricky had never felt so content and at ease than he was in that moment, with the summer breeze hitting his skin and with Gina right beside him. Why did this have to end?

Change was the thing that Ricky hated most in the world. 

And though he’d only known this girl for such a short period of time, she had already become such a big part of his life. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know when it happened, but Gina Porter had weaseled her way right into his heart and left her mark on it. 

So going from not knowing Gina at all to getting to know her and everything that makes up her beautiful soul back to essentially being strangers again? That didn’t sit right with Ricky. 

He knew that they’d always stay friends, but with Gina leaving after graduation, he didn’t know when he would see her again. It wasn’t like he had the money to fly to New York whenever he wanted to see her. Would she be a phone call away? Yes. But that wouldn’t be enough. 

He could see himself watching her live her life through pictures on his Instagram feed and his stomach twisted in longing, like she wasn’t standing right beside him. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Her soft voice interrupted his thoughts from going any further. He glanced down at the coin she held in front of him, which turned out to be a euro coin. His eyes traveled back up to her face, where he was met with a small smile and curious eyes.

He clicked his tongue and a breathy laugh escaped past his lips. “That’s a euro, not a penny.”

With a roll of her eyes, she shoved the coin right back into her pocket. “I’m not carrying pennies on my trip to Europe. And besides, ‘euro for your thoughts’ does not sound as good as ‘a penny for your thoughts’, now does it?”

He shook his head, a grin threatening to break through on his features.

“Thought so.” She stopped walking and Ricky followed suit. She huffed, tilting her head, “Now, really, what is on your mind? You’ve been… quiet.”

“Just thinking about how I’m going to miss you.” He said transparently, his heart jumping in his chest while looking back at Gina, whose cheeks began to turn a shade darker. They had already established that they would miss each other after the trip was over, but that just made everything so much harder.

She frowned. 

“I know, Gi. I know I said that we shouldn’t be dwelling but I can’t help it.”

She sighed audibly, her eyes traveling around the garden as she pondered, “I’m only a phone call away.”

“Yeah.” He said simply, sadness tugging at his heart. Trying to think of anything to take his mind off of the inevitable, he ran his fingers through his curls, “So, you excited to see your mom on graduation?”

“ Beyond. I haven’t seen her since April when I visited her during spring break.” 

He hummed thoughtfully, “You think I can meet her? I mean I’m sure she would love to meet your fake boyfriend.” 

“Sorry, Bowen. There’s no way I’m telling her that I pretended to be someone’s girlfriend. She would not approve one bit—maybe I’ll tell her in a few years.” She chuckled. “‘ Hey, mom, remember when I went on that trip to Europe? Yeah, well, I actually was in a fake relationship and it was the worst experience of my life.’ And then she’d proceed to  kill me.” 

“Worst experience of your life? You’re breaking my heart over here.” 

“Yeah, actually, I’m counting down the minutes until the moment we get on that plane and I’ll never see you again.” She said with a giggle, nudging the boy beside her. He shook his head, a lopsided grin growing on his lips.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” She said curiously.

“The sound of my heart snapping in half.” 

“You should really get that fixed. Maybe duct tape?” 

Their straight faces then turned into contagious smiles within seconds, causing Ricky’s heart to flutter at the sight of her smile and the sound of her soft laugh. 

After a few moments, Gina glanced up at Ricky, “No, but seriously, I think my mom would love you.” 

His lips curled up into a smile at the compliment, “Really?” Knowing how much her mother means to her and how close they are, it means a lot for Gina to say that. 

“Yeah.” She nodded, mirroring his small smile. “She wouldn’t like your corny jokes though.”

“Geez, be gentle with me. A boy’s heart can only take so much in a few minutes.”

Gina rolled her eyes lightheartedly, “Your heart will be just fine, Bowen.” 

“Hope so.” He said with an equal amount of playfulness in his tone, their eyes staying locked for a few beats too long, until Gina’s cheeks turned a shade darker and averted her attention to their surroundings. 

Ricky glanced around as well. It seemed like he hadn’t been really paying attention the last ten minutes that they’ve been walking—he was too distracted by Gina. “Isn’t that like the fourth fountain we’ve passed?”

“Yeah. There’s tons in the gardens.” Gina replied as she looked down at the map in her hands.

He hummed in response, admiring the fountain they had stopped in front of. “Hey, do you have any more coins?”

“Mhm.”

“Let’s make a wish.” He said, catching her eyes.

“Ricky, look at how clean this fountain is. They probably fine people for throwing coins in!” Gina laughed somewhat incredulously, shaking her head.

He nudged her, “Come on, Gi. How many borderline illegal things have we done on this trip? You’re forgetting we literally snuck into the Paris ballet last night and got out without a scratch.”

After contemplating for a few moments and glancing over her shoulder, she let out a deep breath, “Fine.” She proceeded to dig two coins out of her pocket and gave one to Ricky, who was grinning proudly in triumph. 

“On three?” He asked.

“Okay.” She turned her head towards the fountain and shut her eyes tightly, and Ricky couldn’t help but smile to himself at the sight, a twinge of warmth forming in his stomach.

Turning back to the fountain, he looked down at the coin and said, “One…”

“Two.” Gina followed.

“Three.” 

His wish was simple, but was something he wanted more than anything: This to keep going.

Their coins dropped into the water at once and quiet proceeded to settle between the both of them. Something weighed on Ricky’s chest as he watched the coins sink to the bottom of the fountain, but he pushed it away and let out a deep breath. 

“We should probably get as far away as we can from this fountain.” He said, looking over his shoulder.

“I totally agree.” Gina replied after a few beats.

He finally allowed himself to look in her direction and, of course, curiosity was getting the best of him. What had she wished for? 

Pressing his lips into a thin line, he reached his hand out between them. He watched as she hesitated slightly before grabbing his hand. And with that, they walked (rather hastily) as far as they could from that fountain. 

A short while later of walking mindlessly, Gina suggested that they visit the Queen’s Hamlet, which the Queen used for relaxing walks and to host small gatherings back in the day. The journey there had been about twenty-something minutes, but Ricky didn’t mind. The grounds were enormous and there was just so much to be enthralled by. 

It took them about an hour to get through the Hamlet. Ricky had taken plenty of photos of the cottages, lake, windmill, and even some candids of Gina when she wasn’t paying attention. 

The rest of the afternoon flew by and before they knew it, the time was nearing 4:00, meaning they had to get back to the bus to meet their classmates. 

“I feel bad for my mom.” Gina said, looking up from her phone, as they walked down the tree-lined sidewalk. “I’ve sent her probably a hundred photos already and it’s barely 10am in New York.” 

“She’s probably sitting there like “ugh, Gina sent me another three photos of the same tree but at different angles!” ” Ricky snickered, recalling all the times she had stopped to take pictures of trees, flowers and bushes.

Gina nudged him, rolling her eyes, “You know, my mom loves getting nature pictures. Where do you think I got it from?”

“No judgement here, Porter.” He said, light sarcasm in his tone. “Hey, that’s a big tree over there! Get in front of it and we can send it to your mom.”

She stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to figure out if he was kidding. He was not. So she walked up to the tree, lifted her arms and plastered a big smile on her face. Ricky took about twenty pictures.

“Amazing.” He said while Gina jogged over to him to get a glimpse of the pictures. 

“Oh my gosh, that’s actually really cute. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a great photographer?” She joked, looking up from his phone to meet his eyes.

“Only when I have an even greater subject.” He winked, half expecting her to shove him and the other half expecting her to just ignore him. But, she only stared at him for a moment, her lips twitching upwards into an amused smile.

And then a gust of wind caught up to them, sending both Gina’s curls and the foliage around them into a frenzy. Ricky watched as the girl tried to move her curls out of her face, despite the wind continuing to fight back.

Once her hair was somewhat tamed, he reached over without any hesitation and tucked the loose curl that was still blowing in the wind behind her ear. 

She looked up at him with bright eyes and rosy cheeks and Ricky was overwhelmed at the sight of her. He didn’t know when his breathing had become uneven and what caused his heart to pick up speed, but it may have had something to do with how close they were in proximity. 

Through the wind’s clamor around them, he was able to hear her slight intake of breath. It all made Ricky feel lightheaded—the look on Gina’s face mixed with gravity pulling him towards her… it was almost too much. 

But there was nothing he could do about it. Friends don’t kiss friends. 

“Ricky,” Gina said softly.

“What?” He whispered, enough for both of them to hear. 

“I…”

His heart and stomach lurched as he waited for her to continue. He was hanging on by a thread.

“I, um,” she swallowed, the nerves evident on her face.

“Tell me.” He replied softly, tilting his head. 

Their eyes stayed locked for what seemed like forever while Ricky waited in anticipation and the suspense built, his heart beating in his throat and the world slowing down around them. 

A flicker of hesitation flashed behind her eyes and all of the hope and excitement that emerged in his system had popped like a balloon as soon as he caught wind of it. 

She cleared her throat, breaking their eye contact, “We need to get back.”

She walked away from him quickly, leaving him deflated. This feeling felt all too familiar. It was just like last night when there was something at the tip of her tongue, but she wouldn’t let the words out. 

He had a hollow feeling in his chest as he watched her stray further down the sidewalk towards the chateau. Confusion clouded his thoughts and didn’t allow him to move, until Gina turned on her heel to look back at him.

“You coming, Bowen?”

Brows drawn together, he let out a small sigh and jogged over to her, “Yeah!” 

The walk back to the palace seemed to last an eternity. The two of them barely spoke a word towards each other, which left Ricky alone with his thoughts and the distant feeling that Gina gave off. Whatever it was she had to tell him, she was afraid of saying it and that alone confused and freaked him out at the same time.

Once they had made it to the front entrance, where their bud was parked, they were greeted by the sight of their classmates boarding the bus. 

“Bowen and Porter, glad to see you made it.” Mr. Mazzara said monotonically, looking up from his clipboard as the two mounted the bus.

“Glad to see you’re so cheery today, Mazzara.” Ricky hummed back in response, plastering a sweet smile on his face. He glanced over to see if Gina had thought it was funny, but she wasn’t looking at him. He frowned.

On the way to their seats and after he shot a peace sign towards his red headed best friend, his gaze caught a familiar pair of brown eyes. Nini was staring at him and Gina intently, enough to make him squirm. 

He did notice, though, that she wasn’t sitting with Elias. Did they really break up? And was it really because of him? The thought made him feel uneasy.

Once he sat down in his seat, he glanced towards Nini at the back of his bus again. When he returned his attention to Gina, she had already been looking at him, her brown eyes holding an emotion that he couldn’t quite decipher. She looked away right after, turning her attention to her phone.

The ride back to Paris had been almost excruciating. Gina hadn’t said a single word to him the entire time and he wracked his brain a million times trying to figure out what was going on. 

Once they got back to their hotel and were off the bus, Ricky reached for her hand but she quickly moved her hand away. She didn’t look at him, “Don’t hold my hand.”

Why couldn’t he hold her hand? Ricky felt himself frown and heat began to crawl up his neck. And then it clicked, “Oh, we’re doing this now? ”

She glanced over, creating a small but noticeable gap between them. “Now or never, Bowen.”

He swallowed and suddenly all the nerves inside of him came to life. He glanced around nervously once they were inside, seeing that the chaperones were standing outside while most everyone headed towards the elevators. 

Gina was walking ahead of him, but then stopped in her tracks and the boy braced himself. 

“What is up with you, Ricky?” Gina said suddenly, her voice projecting loudly through the lobby, so much that it scared Ricky. He sent her a confused look, but she kept going, “You’ve been acting so distracted for the past few days.”

“What are you talking about?” His brows furrowed, raising his voice enough to gain some eyes from their classmates within a few feet of them.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“No…” he started, brows creasing. “I really don’t.”

Gina scoffed audibly, “Your mind is always somewhere else, your eyes are always somewhere else.”

“Can we talk about this somewhere more private?”

“There’s not much more to say. I just feel like your heart isn’t here with m e. It’s–it’s never going to be with me. It’s always going to be with…” she paused and her eyes wandered across the room. He followed her gaze to find Nini, the person she was referring to. 

He instantly frowned at the words that hung between them. That was something that he always thought, but now, after this trip, he’s not so sure that’s the case.

His eyes locked with his ex-girlfriend and she quickly looked away. His gaze stayed out on her for a moment as he noticed that she wasn’t even standing with her boyfriend. The two were talking to completely separate groups. The rumors had to be true. 

He looked back at Gina, who caught his stare instantly. He noticed the frown prominent on her lips and that her eyes had been slightly glazed over. 

Concern washed over him, wondering if the girl in front of him wasn’t acting after all and took a step forward, “Gina…”

She blinked quickly and looked away, “I’ll be right back.” And left towards the elevators.

And then he stood there, feeling somewhat deflated. He glanced around the room and it just so happened that all eyes were on him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and headed for the bathrooms, assuming that was where Gina had gone.

“Gina?” He called lightly, hoping that no one could hear him.

She was nowhere to be found, but after a minute, she emerged from the restroom seeming startled to see him standing there, “Oh, hi.”

“Um, are you okay? Are we–”

“Ricky,” she sighed lightly, the corners of her lips turning up into a smile, “that was acting. The tears and the walk off… that was for the dramatics.”

Though her words were saying one thing, it seemed as if she was distancing herself from him. There was a large gap between them, a gap that was filled with some kind of tension—the same tension he felt between them earlier. It didn’t feel right.

He nodded anyway, “Oh. Yeah, right. Just forgot how good of an actor you were. I wanted to make sure–”

“I’m good.” She said with a nod. “We should probably get back to our rooms so nobody sees this and thinks we’ve made up.” 

“Right.” He nodded, feeling disappointed for some reason. “I’ll see you… soon.”

━━━━━━

He stared up at the ceiling for a half hour. He laid on his back, hands draped over his abdomen while his thoughts ran a mile a minute through his head. Something wasn’t sitting right inside of him, but how was he supposed to know what it was?

Big Red sat on his bed playing TikToks on full volume as Ricky contemplated his whole existence and what he truly wanted.

Once the half hour was up, though, Big Red had to (literally) drag his best friend out of bed in order for them to meet with their friends for dinner. Ricky was dreading having to face their final night and Gina, knowing that there was something weird going on between them. Whatever that was. He was still figuring it out.

When they met up with the girls, thankfully nobody had brought up the fake couple’s staged fight. Ricky just wanted to get his mind off of whatever had happened, and luckily, Gina seemed to want to forget about it too. 

Though he could still feel the tension in the air, it had dissipated by the time they arrived at the restaurant. When they sat and were looking over the menu, Ricky kicked Gina’s foot under the table and asked, “What are you getting?”

She peered up at him, her lips turning upwards into a slight smile, “I’m thinking about the pasta. What about you?”

“No way.” He chuckled. “Me too.”

“I’m surprised you weren’t going to go for the ratatouille, considering you’ve probably seen the movie thirty times.” 

“Only twenty times.” He corrected her jokingly, earning a small laugh from the girl. “But, I know Remy the rat personally so I’ve had his ratatouille plenty of times.”

Big Red gasped, “You know Remy?”

“You don’t know Remy?” 

Soon, their waiter came over to their table to collect their orders. After the server left, Ashlyn and Gina fell into conversation while Big Red not-so inconspicuously was texting on his phone, so that left Ricky to listen to the girls talk.

They were discussing what they were going to wear tomorrow during their flight back to Utah. All Ricky knew was that he was going to wear his favorite sweatpants and a t-shirt. And somewhere during the conversation, he had completely tuned out and focused on Gina. 

While she talked, the only thing he could do was admire her beauty. She had changed out of her I heart Paris shirt into a pink floral dress. She was beautiful inside and out, and he didn’t know how someone like him got to be in her presence. 

His stomach flipped at the thought and suddenly, he realized what he was doing. And as if on cue, Ashlyn had gotten a text and interrupted his thoughts from going any further, “So EJ just texted me and told me that everyone’s going to a bar not too far from our hotel around 7:30. Do you guys want to go?”

Ricky wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of being in a bar full of his classmates on their last night in France. He glanced over at Gina, who was already looking at him, and then he shrugged, “I’m in if you’re in.”

He watched her ponder for a moment before she shrugged like he had, “We can do that.”

“I’m good with anything!” Big Red said, finally glancing up from his phone.

“Same. I think it’ll be fun.” Ashlyn said and went to text her cousin back. 

“Probably not as fun as watching the Paris ballet but I guess it’ll do.” Gina joked, sitting back in her chair.

“Oh yeah, wait, how did the ballet go?” Big Red asked, scooting to the edge of his seat in interest.

“Oh my gosh, we’ve been so busy all day I completely forgot to ask! Was it magical, Gi?” Ashlyn squealed, equally as interested.

Ricky peeked a glance at Gina, eager to have more validation that it was the best night of her life, and she was smiling. She too peeked over at Ricky and her grin grew a little wider. Turning back to their friends, she sighed happily, “It was amazing. It was nothing and everything like I had ever thought it would be and I can’t believe I even got to see a glimpse of it.”

Big Red snorted, “I’m surprised the two of you even got in. Ricky was on his phone for at least an hour yesterday trying to get tickets.”

A blush snuck up on him and he avoided Gina’s eyes as the embarrassment sunk in, so instead he changed the subject, “I don’t know how we got in, but we did get chased out of there.”

Ashlyn gasped, “No way! What happened?”

Ricky and Gina exchanged a glance. Gina tried to hold back a laugh and started to explain. “Long story short… we somehow were mistaken by these two French teenagers, who apparently had box tickets, and they caught us.”

“Swore we were going to get locked up. Surprised that Lily and Antoine didn’t send hitmen to get us. They were pissed . Very judgy too.” Ricky added. 

“You two could’ve gotten arrested!” Red exclaimed. 

“Hey,” Ricky started, “you didn’t stop me from taking Gina there without tickets.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually get in.” 

“Fair.” Ricky stifled a laugh.

“What did you guys do after you were chased out of there?” Ashlyn asked curiously, eyeing Gina for a moment too long. 

“We got gelato and then went on a walk by the river.” She replied, her eyes traveling down to the bracelet on her wrist for a second, enough for Ricky to catch it and his stomach filled with butterflies. “It was a lot of fun.”

“It was.” Ricky agreed softly, catching her eyes for a brief moment. 

Silence then settled among the group of friends before Ashlyn sighed audibly.

“We need to hang out as soon as we get back. Maybe I’ll throw a party? As a yay-we’re-almost-graduated type of thing?” Ashlyn said, resting her chin in her hand. She perked up after a moment, stricken with an idea, “Oooh, it could even be a backyard party! We could have a bon-fire, do karaoke—Red can you supply the pizza?”

“Of course I can!”

“That sounds sick. But on one condition!” Ricky piped up, gaining all eyes at the table. “Carlos Rodriguez is not invited.”

“No can do, Bowen.” Gina laughed softly. “If Seb’s going to come, Carlos is automatically going to come.”

Ricky groaned, “Fine. I’ll still be there.”

“Good because this post-senior trip depression is going to hit hard .” Ashlyn said and they all agreed in unison. 

Their food had finally arrived shortly after and the rest of dinner had flown by. Once they finished and all paid, they decided to do some shopping to kill time before they had to meet their classmates at the bar. 

Walking down the sidewalks of Paris with his friends made Ricky feel so content. He never wanted any of this to end, he wanted to stay in Europe for another ten days and explore every other city they hadn’t visited. But reality had to sink in at some point.

Ricky and Gina walked together into every store while their best friends enjoyed each other’s company. They visited a crazy amount of boutiques, chain stores and souvenir shops. Going shopping had paid off for them all, considering they all bought some last minute souvenirs. 

As they walked, Ashlyn had even wanted to stop on a random street corner and have an impromptu photoshoot with Gina (Ricky was more than willing to be their photographer) (and Big Red had loads of fun photo-bombing).

When the clock struck 7pm and two hours had passed, the group gourd themselves heading to the bar. Ricky could feel a twinge of sadness emerging as they stepped foot into the restaurant knowing that this was probably the last thing they would do for the trip. He wanted to have fun.

They arrived about twenty minutes early and none of their classmates were in sight. They made their way to an empty bar table and waited for their peers to get there. The place was littered with locals whose moods were probably going to be ruined in the matter of thirty minutes by the amount of American teenagers that were going to walk in. 

Ricky found the bar itself oddly comforting. It was a big place with a lot of legroom. The lighting was soft and there was a performer strumming a guitar in the middle of the room. He wondered how whoever had planned this had found such a pleasant place for a gathering. It was nice. 

His eyes scanned over the crowd, taking note of the groups of people at the bar and in the center of the room dancing to the gentle music playing from the guitarist. His fingers tapped to the rhythm of the music while his gaze settled on the person he kept coming back to. 

Without an afterthought, he put his hand out between them, “Want to show me your moves, pretty girl?”

Surprise encompassing her features, she looked up at him and over to the area where only three couples were dancing (all three middle-aged). She puffed out a laugh, “Bowen…”

“What? I let you hear my singing voice didn’t I? The least you could do is teach me how to dance to a rhythm of some sort.” His lips twitched upwards into an amused smile as he awaited her reaction. 

Still hesitating, she sheepishly glanced over to her best friend, who had been happily listening into their conversation. The redhead met her with an approving nod and basically shooed them away to the dance floor. 

“Fine,” Gina sighed, a smile tugging at her mouth, “but we have to stop as soon as our classmates get here. They think we… you know.” Broke up. Or are fighting. Another reminder that their time together was ticking away and slowly started to chip away the rose colored glasses, letting reality slowly start to sink in.

Pushing the thought way down, he hopped out of his seat and stuck his hand out for Gina to take. Once she placed her hand in his palm, ignoring the flutter in his stomach, he led her over to the makeshift dance floor and rested his hands comfortably on her hips. He noticed the way she tensed ever-so slightly at the contact, but chose to ignore it once she relaxed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

The closeness in proximity he was with Gina almost made him nervous. Besides their hugs, he hadn’t been this close to her since they kissed at the airport and that… that sent him for a whirlwind. Well, everything she did sent him for a whirlwind. She had this presence that made him both a nervous wreck and the most calm he’d ever been in his life at the same time.

He swallowed, their eye contact causing his heart to beat a mile a minute, and looked down at his shoes, “What was it you told me?” He laughed lightly, recalling their night out in Prague, “like move my body to the rhythm, right? Don’t overthink it…”

A small smile appeared on her lips, “The world isn’t watching.”

Chuckling softly in response, he shook his head and glanced around the room, “How did we get here?” When their eyes locked once again and he saw her patiently waiting for him to go on, he continued, “A month ago I had no idea who you were and now… you’re my best friend. It’s weird, I don’t know, I feel like the me before you is a completely different version of myself.”

If it were anyone else, he would have wanted to hide from his vulnerable words that were laid on the table. But with Gina, he made no attempt to run away because he knew she understood, especially from the warm eyes peering back at him.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I get it. It feels like I’ve known you my whole life.”

He hummed in response as they swayed to the guitar's tempo. “What did you think of me? Before getting to know me?” He asked after a beat, suddenly intrigued to know the answer.

She stared back at him and shrugged, “I don’t know. Of course I knew you, you were always there supporting Nini after rehearsals and during our shows. I knew what I heard about you.” She said and the boy instantly knew what was coming. “You skip class almost three times a week, you get high behind the bleachers after school with Red, I heard this one time your freshman year you almost took Mr. Hodgson’s head off with a dead frog.” 

Ricky groaned, throwing his head back, “That thing was disgusting! But yeah, somehow it ended up with its guts splattered all over the whiteboard. Got detention for a week.” 

Gina stared back at him amusedly, “Sounds like something you would do.”

“Still have nightmares about it.” He shuddered, a growing smile on his lips. “The other two things are also true. Good to know that there’s no insane rumors about me.”

The girl let out a small laugh that faded quickly. “There were some other things said about you but I never really let myself believe any of it because I didn’t know you. But now I do.”

“Yeah?” He replied and tilted his head.

“Mhm.”

“And what do you think?”

“Looking past how annoying you are?” She started, earning an eye roll from the boy. “I think you’re amazing.” She added without hesitation, causing Ricky’s heart to skip in his chest at the sentiment. His pulse escalated when he felt her fingers gently messing with the curls at the back of his neck, sending tingles rippling down his spine. 

While silence engulfed them and the only thing heard was the sounds of guitar strings, there was something unspoken being said between them. But he couldn’t put a finger on what it was, though it was unmistakable. He felt a pull towards her, just as he did the night before, and it left Ricky cemented to the floor. Even if he wanted to leave, he knew he wouldn’t be able to. 

His gaze traveled down to her lips for a beat, feeling a longing to lean over and kiss her, making everything just so much more complicated.

“What was it you were going to tell me earlier?” He said instead of caving into his desires. 

He saw something flash in her eyes, before she shielded it away. “When?”

She knew when, but he didn’t press.

“Back at the gardens when we were headed to the buses.” And last night, after I gave you the charms.

Something inside of him needed to know what she was going to say. Like it was detrimental to his lifeline, like all of his actions were depending on whatever it was she had to tell him. He watched her carefully through his lashes, while everything slowed around them. He saw the hesitancy behind her eyes and wanted nothing more for her to just say it.

He searched her eyes, but still, something held her back.

“I just wish I knew what was going on up there.” He murmured quietly, brows drawing together in concentration. 

She frowned suddenly, staring right back at him with the same amount of concentration. “That goes both ways.” 

Both ways? 

Before he had any time to think further, Gina’s eyes locked with something at the door and immediately tensed. She leaned into Ricky, her brown eyes narrowing, “Nini’s here.”

His throat went dry at her words, something that tried to ground him back to reality, but yet his grip refused to loosen on Gina’s hips. “Yeah?” He said slowly.

Her eyes lifted to meet his gaze and whispered, “Yeah.”

He really did not want to let go just because Nini was there, he wanted to continue this conversation and keep digging until they uncover something hidden between them.

“Do you want to keep pretending?” He said suddenly, the words falling from his mouth without time to process, surprising himself and the girl in front of him. Why did he say that? What did that even mean? His head clearly hadn’t caught up with his heart.

She stared back at him carefully, like she was trying to read his mind and pick apart what that question meant. And after a few moments, she tilted her head, “Do you?”

“I–” he started, confusion laced on his features.

“Dude!” Big Red placed a hand on his shoulder, breaking up their conversation. It took him a few seconds to look away from Gina and over to his best friend. The redhead hissed, “Nini’s about to walk in and all of our other classmates who think the two of you are broken up!”

Gina ripped her hands away from around his neck and his head whipped in her direction, feeling his heart sink as she stepped away from him, creating a noticeable gap between them. In a daze of both confusion and hurt, he swallowed, “Fuck, um, right. Thanks, man.”

His gaze traveled back to Gina, who still looked like she was processing everything. She looked everywhere but him, “Good thinking, Red. I’m gonna… I’m gonna go sit with Ash and wait for EJ to get here.” And then she was off in the other direction, leaving Ricky to figure out what had just happened.

“You okay?” Big Red asked, bringing him somewhat back to reality.

He swallowed, running a hand over his face, “Uh, yeah. I think so.”

“What were you two talking about?”

“Not sure.” He replied quietly, receiving a glance from his best friend that held nothing short of confusion. His gaze went from Big Red to where Gina sat in the corner and then over to the door, where his ex-girlfriend had just walked in. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Leaving before Red could say anything, he headed straight for the restrooms where he was immediately met with Carlos, who was washing his hands at the counter. The two made eye contact for a brief moment and the curly haired boy mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

“Well wasn’t that a warm welcome.” Carlos snorted, turning off the faucet and flicking his hands above the sink to get the excess water off. 

“I’m just not in the mood right now.” Ricky replied, walking over to the counter and staring at himself in the mirror, which he found himself doing for the second time that day.

“I didn’t say anything.” 

He did have a point. But knowing Carlos, he always had something to say. 

He inhaled sharply, wiping a hand over his face, “Yeah. Sorry.” He grumbled. “I’m just kind of in a weird mood right now.”

Silence settled between them as the other boy made his way over to the hand dryers and dried his hands off, while Ricky stayed put at the sink, a frown etched in his features. And after about a minute, Carlos finally had something to say. Ricky should have known. 

“Would it have anything to do with Gina? I saw the two of you when I got here. Luckily I came in before anyone else.”

“Dude, what is it with your obsession with us?”

“I just think there’s a lot more going on than you two are saying.” He crossed his arms to his chest and shrugged.

Ricky’s jaw tightened. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear at the moment, not after what had just happened—he was too confused. “And even if there was? It would have absolutely nothing to do with you. But there’s nothing going on. We’ve told you that way too many times.”

Carlos let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, gaining Ricky’s full attention, “Listen. I don’t mean to be a total jackass, okay? I kind of… care about the two of you.” 

That was new. Ricky had always assumed he just liked to stir the pot for fun and cause chaos. After a moment, he continued, “And I might be completely misreading the situation, you two may very well be just friends. But I don’t think I am. And if I’m right Ricky, you should be honest with yourself. Before it’s too late and somebody gets hurt.”

It was quiet again. Ricky stayed staring down at the sink, his heart feeling somewhat heavy at Carlos’ words, something he never thought he would experience. It all felt like too much. Five minutes ago he had been asking Gina to dance and now he’s getting advice from his own adversary.

Ricky hummed comically in response, though there was nothing comical about it. Everything had turned confusing and complicated and overwhelming in the matter of five minutes. How could Carlos be so sure about it all? When Ricky had no idea what to make of anything. 

Well, at least that’s what he’d been telling himself. 

“And I’ve decided I’m not going to do or say anything else for the rest of the trip. I just hope you follow my advice.” Carlos added gently, leading Ricky to glance over his shoulder and nod his head. “I’m gonna get back out there.” And with that, the opposite boy exited the bathroom and left Ricky alone with his thoughts.

His head was spinning and the only thing he could do was try to get back out there. He needed to get his head back on straight, put aside whatever weird and complicated feelings for Gina on the back burner and enjoy his final hours in Paris with his friends. In twenty-four hours, he would just be arriving home back in Salt Lake City. Back to real life.

Bringing his head up to look at himself in the mirror, he saw a different person than he was over a week ago when he came on this trip. And he knew why that was. Because of Gina. 

So he was going to go back out there and enjoy himself and not be the guy he was ten days ago—the guy who moped around, sulking over his love life, as Gina would put it. Even with the confusion and words from Carlos repeating in the back of his head, he wasn’t going to be that guy right now. He was going to have fun with his friends and Gina, regardless if their classmates were convinced their honeymoon phase had failed miserably.  

A minute passed and Ricky had exited the bathroom, and instantly his gaze locked with a pair of familiar brown eyes across the room, causing his stomach to twist unexpectedly. He may have left the bathroom with all the confidence in the world that he wouldn’t let these feelings bother him but as soon as their eyes met, his breath caught in his throat.

Gina looked away as if their eye contact didn’t mean anything and turned back to Ashlyn, continuing their conversation. 

He frowned a little and his eyes scanned the room again, which was now littered with more of his classmates than locals, and his stomach churned uncomfortably as he spotted his ex-girlfriend, and she was looking straight at him. He nodded at her quickly and looked away, though it seemed like she was trying to tell him something with her eyes. 

He puffed a breath, ducked his head and started toward the bar, suddenly in need of a drink.

━━━━━━

After one drink going down a little too easily while simultaneously not resolving any of his problems, Ricky had decided to stick to water. Now he sat with Red, Gina, Ashlyn, Kourtney and EJ in the corner of the bar while everyone else was scattered amongst the room.

Ricky and Gina engaged in the least discussion than usual, and it seemed like it was due to their last conversation rather than keeping up with their ruse, even if there had been multiple stolen glances between the two since. Ricky wanted nothing more than to just pull her aside and talk, not even about their very cryptic conversation that took place, just talk and be like they were so good at. 

He chewed on his bottom lip, pulling his phone out and clicking on her contact.

We're good, right?

I didn’t mean to make it weird.

It felt like he’d asked that question so many times before, but this time it seemed so much more significant.

He watched her carefully as she took her phone out. Her brows drew together and her eyes traveled up to meet his, a slight smile poking at her lips. She began to type.

Of course, honey pot.

He hummed a laugh and shut his phone off, receiving glances from around the table. Maybe everything was alright.

Shortly after, Kourtney had decided to sit with Nini and Natalie across the room, claiming she had to check up on Nini—whatever that meant. But for some reason, Ricky really didn’t seem to mind. Once Kourt had left, Gina finally spoke up, “EJ, so are you and Kourt official now?”

A sideways grin appeared on his face and he nodded proudly, “Asked her on a date this morning. We’re going roller skating Tuesday night after we get home.”

A gasp escaped Gina’s lips, breaking out into a grin, “Oh my God. I didn’t think you had it in you, seeing how nervous you were to even talk to her.” Ricky felt a flutter in his chest while he watched Gina animatedly talk to her close friend. 

“I feel like a proud mom.” Ashlyn chimed in, leaning back in her seat.

“Speaking of new relationships,” Ricky said, turning his head towards his best friend, who was staring down at his phone. “Red, are you going to ask Howie out when you get back?”

Almost instantly, Big Red’s face turned the shade of his hair and he buried his head into his hands. “Dude, no way! Baby steps.”

“Red, you should totally ask him out! From what I’ve heard he’s really into you.” Ashlyn encouraged. “You can’t just go back to bossing him around at work and acting like you two don’t have feelings for each other.” 

Big Red frowned.

Ricky snickered, “It’s more like Howie bosses Red around.”

“Dude! Guys, that’s not true.” 

“Oh no, I don’t believe it for a second.” Gina said sarcastically, earning a slight grin from Ricky. 

Big Red grumbled, covering his face with his hands once again in embarrassment. “Fine, I’ll ask him out if you all stop talking about it.”

“That’s more like it.” Ricky patted him on the back, a laugh bubbling in his chest. “And don’t think I’m going to forget about it.”

“Change the subject!” Big Red said into his hands.

“Ricky.” EJ said after a moment, gaining his attention. “How’s everything with Nini? Anything happen after yours and Gi’s fight earlier?” 

Ricky’s eyes traveled over to Gina, who sat with an unreadable expression on her face. He knew that EJ meant no harm, but could they just not talk about Nini or their fake relationship for five minutes? Clearing his throat, he shook his head, “Uh, nothing has really happened. Haven’t talked to her in days.”

“That sucks, man.” EJ glanced over at Gina, who sat beside him, and their eye contact lingered for a moment too long. Ricky’s brows drew together at the exchange, but before he could think about it further, Ashlyn had interjected. 

“Maybe it’s not meant to be.” 

Ricky pressed his lips into a line, trying to make sense of that response. The entire trip, Ashlyn had been pretty supportive of their ruse to win Nini back, so why was she saying this now? Maybe he was reading too much into it. 

Not sure of how to respond, he glanced towards Gina once more, and cleared his throat, “I’m gonna go get another water. Anyone want anything?”

After they all rattled off various drink orders, Ricky had left their table and weeded through their classmates to get to the bar. 

While waiting for the drinks he ordered and nervously tapping his fingers on the counter, he noticed a presence beside him and turned to see his ex-girlfriend. His lips parted, surprised that she came up to talk to him, “Uh, Nini—hey.”

“Hi, um, can I talk to you?” Nini asked, pressing her lips into a thin line.

Ricky stared back at her for a second. He then glanced between her and the curly haired girl across the room, who caught his eyes for a passing moment before tearing them away quickly. His gaze returned to Nini and his stomach twisted into something unfamiliar, “Do you think it can wait? Tonight maybe?” He asked hurriedly, wanting to get back to Gina and his friends.

The girl’s lips spread apart in surprise, but nodded anyway. She swallowed thickly, “No—yeah! No problem. Lobby around 9?”

“Got it. Lobby around 9.”

Thankfully, his drinks were placed in front of them on the counter by the bartender who mumbled something in French before walking away. Ricky awkwardly glanced at Nini once again, wondering why she was still standing there. He picked the drinks up, “I’m gonna get back to Big Red, he was telling me this story about the guy he likes and, uh–”

“Oh, yeah, no it’s cool, I’ll see you later.”

He cleared his throat, “Cool.” And then he left her standing alone at the bar while he went back to his table. He wasn’t sure why he was so short with Nini, but he also wasn’t sure why he found himself not in the mood to even talk to her. 

Once he made it back to the table, his head was in the clouds for a while until his friends pulled him into their conversation about how strange it had been to have to tip the toilet attendants every time they went to the bathroom (which left Big Red and Ricky completely mortified that they hadn’t been tipping the people sitting in the bathrooms this entire time). 

The rest of the night flew by. Their group of friends talked and laughed all night until it was finally time to get back to their hotel since they had to get up at 5 in the morning to catch their flight back home. Ricky allowed himself to have fun, even if the fact that he had to meet up with Nini later was floating around in the back of his head. 

It was nice. Hanging out with more people than just Big Red, Nini and the occasional Howie. He was so used to being on his own most of the time and he definitely wouldn’t have believed it if he knew he was spending time with Gina, Ashlyn and EJ Caswell by the end of his trip. Funny how quickly things could change. 

And though he was having fun, he genuinely wished he could spend these final hours in Paris with just Gina. He didn’t know why—he liked hanging out with everyone—but his time with Gina felt limited, especially tonight. 

The group (minus EJ, because he had to walk Kourtney back) left about ten minutes after everyone else had left the bar for the night, so that Ricky and Gina didn’t have to keep pretending. They didn’t need to anymore. 

The walk back to their hotel was filled with silence as the fact that they were leaving had sunk in. Everyone drank in the beauty and wonder of the capital city, while the sun set and its nightlife had started to make its way to the surface. Ricky noticed that Gina had been especially quiet since leaving and could feel her eyes wander over to him every now and then when he wasn’t looking. 

I just wish I knew what was going on up there.

That goes both ways.

It was a bittersweet feeling getting back to their hotel for the evening. Everything felt strange as he stepped through the doors of the building for the last time, knowing that everything would change in the morning once he left. The worst part of going on a trip was actually leaving. Why couldn’t it last forever?

“This blows, you guys.” Ashlyn said what they were all thinking as they approached the elevators.

“I know.” Ricky frowned, his eyes trailing over to Gina, who caught his eyes. 

“Yeah. It sucks.” She said.

“I still have to pack. My stuff is everywhere.” Big Red moaned, crossing his arms as Gina pressed the elevator button. 

“Same.” Ricky mumbled, suddenly remembering that he had to pack quickly before he came back down to meet Nini. The elevator doors opened and they all piled in and pressed their floor numbers while silence engulfed them once again.

As the elevator started to move, Ricky glanced at Gina, who had her arms crossed and a look of concentration in her eyes. She met his gaze not even a second later, seeming like she was trying to read his mind for one last time. He shifted on his feet, wondering what was going on in her head, wondering why she was trying to get a read on him.

Ding! The elevator sounded, signaling they were at her floor. 

“Bye guys.” Ashlyn said, making her way out of the elevator onto her floor and waited for Gina.

With her eyes still on Ricky, she let out an audible breath, “See you tomorrow, okay?” 

He inhaled sharply, not ready to say goodbye, knowing that they’d have to act like they didn’t like each other tomorrow. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to leave her. But he nodded his head anyway, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Gi.”

She sent him a soft smile and then looked at Red, who Ricky may or may not have forgotten was there, and said, “See you tomorrow, Red.”

“Night, Gina!”

“Bye Ashlyn!” Ricky called as the doors were closing and the girls started to walk back to their room.

Once the boys had made it back to their room for the night, they fell onto their beds with an audible sigh. Ricky folded his hands across his stomach and stared up at the ceiling, an overwhelming feeling weighing on him, but he couldn’t place exactly what it was bothering him.

“Excited to see Howie?” He asked, breaking the silence as a ploy to clear his cluttered mind.

“Yes.” Big Red mumbled quietly. “But I’m really bummed we’re leaving. This has been amazing, man. We spent ten days in Europe. Like, what?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. It’s insane… this trip has been insane.” He replied softly, his voice beginning to rasp from the tiredness he was experiencing. He looked at Big Red, who was laying on his stomach, with his face pressed into the sheets.

With a groan, Red lifted his head, “I’m gonna shower and then probably get to bed. Do you want to shower or just take one in the morning?”

Ricky swallowed, “Uh, no, I’ll take one in the morning. I actually–I’m meeting Nini downstairs at nine.”

His friend’s brows shot up in surprise, “Seriously? You’re meeting Nini ? Oh shit, dude.”

“Yeah.” He coughed, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know. She came up to me at the bar and wanted to talk, but I wasn’t really in the mood so I told her we could meet now.”

“Are you nervous? What do you think it’s about?” 

“I have no idea. I mean I definitely am feeling some type of way about it, like, what could she possibly want to talk to me about?” His best friend’s reaction had begun to bring out his nerves. He checked the time, got up from his bed and started to shove his belongings back into his duffel bags as a distraction.

“Wow.” Big Red said, sitting up and shaking his head in disbelief. After a moment he went on, “Do you think she wants to get back together?”

Ricky halted his movements and his stomach flipped in his stomach at the thought. Why didn’t that make him jump for joy? It only made him want to hide away and never see her again. His mouth went dry, “No clue.”

“Maybe the plan worked. Did you… tell Gina?”

“No.” Suddenly feeling a sense of guilt arise in his stomach, he zipped up his duffel bag to avoid the unwarranted feelings. “Do you think I should have?”

Red shrugged, “I mean… maybe? You two have been working towards this for the past week, but at the same time it could be nothing. So I’m not sure.”

Nodding slowly, Ricky pressed his lips into a thin line, “Right. I should probably get down there.”

With a weak nod from his dearest friend, Ricky threw on his favorite hoodie and was out the door, heading downstairs to meet his former flame. His stomach was in knots and adrenaline had started to course through his system as he made his way into the elevator. He had a gut feeling that something big was about to happen, but how could he know what Nini had to say to him?

For all it mattered, it could be nothing at all. She may be consoling him about something, like they had done for most of their lives. Maybe she wanted to tell him that she missed him, but only as his best friend. And Ricky subconsciously hoped that it was either of the two, instead of her wanting to get back together. He had just gotten used to being without her, how could he go back to that in the switch of a hat?

Once he made it to the first floor, his eyes scanned over the lobby and there was no sight of Nini. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he turned in the direction of the lounge, which was a room off of the lobby. After he turned the corner into the room, he was greeted by the sight of his ex-girlfriend sitting on the couch by the fireplace. 

“Hey.” He said from across the room, causing her to snap out of the trance she was in.

“Hi!” She stood up quickly, seeming a bit jumpy. 

Ricky stepped deeper into the room and stood with her by the fireplace. Discomfort pricked at his skin, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is great! No, yeah, everything is great. What about you?” 

“Fine. The best things could be considering, you know…” He shrugged, chewing on his bottom lip. He was starting to get tired of going along with this act, especially when it’s been going on for ten days. But soon it would be all over and he wouldn’t have to pretend anymore.

Nini’s face softened for a moment and tilted her head, “Wait, what?”

He brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Gina and I. We, uh, broke up earlier.”

“Oh.” She replied, her eyes widening. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I knew you guys had that fight earlier but–”

“Yeah. We’re trying to keep it on the low just so it doesn’t get around…” 

“I totally understand.” Nini said with a nod and looked everywhere but at Ricky’s eyes. She was acting strange and it only made Ricky more uneasy. There was something more to this conversation and he wasn’t sure he was ready for whatever it could be.

Rocking on his heels, he swallowed nervously, “Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”

He watched her as she took her time to look back at him. He just wanted her to say “No, there’s nothing! I just wanted to say hi.” Then leave and act like it never happened. But, of course, that was something just too good to be true. 

She released a shaky breath, “You know how Elias had been acting weird towards you the last few days?” 

Ricky raised his brow, certainly remembering all of the attitude that he had been receiving from the water polo captain, “Uh… yeah.”

“Well, it was actually because he thought that I was a little jealous of you and Gina. And he was kind of like, threatened by it? I kept telling him that it was nothing and it really didn’t matter to me, but then,” she paused, looking up at him, “I realized it did matter to me.”

Oh.

Oh shit.

She stepped closer to him, “At first, I was like, why Gina? Was he doing it to spite me because he knew how I felt about her? What was so special about her? And then the two of you looked so in love this whole trip and I just… it really bothered me, Ricky.”

A beat passed and Ricky couldn’t find it in him to stop her from continuing.

“I know it’s selfish of me to push this on you, and after everything too, but I thought maybe that you’re fight was because of me. I miss you Ricky, and I really regret the way I left things with us a month ago. I miss you. I guess what I’m saying is… I’m still in love with you.”

Ricky’s lips parted in surprise. He most certainly wasn’t expecting her to spring this on him just a few hours after his fight with Gina. 

He could remember the first time that he told Nini that he liked her. His heart was hammering against his chest and sweat beads had formed on his forehead from the nerves piling inside of him, and once he let those feelings for her off of his chest and she reciprocated, he felt like he could conquer the world. It was almost funny in hindsight because that was almost three years ago and so much had changed since then. 

This is what he wanted. This is all he had ever wanted. Nini was standing in front of him telling him that she still loved him. But, yet, something felt completely off. Where was that same boy that was about to throw up all over his shoes telling this girl that he liked her? 

Instead, he wanted nothing more than to run away from this conversation and act like it never happened. 

Nini stood there for a few moments longer, “Um, I’m not expecting anything in return, especially since you and Gina just broke up but I thought that you should know.”

“No! No… Nini.” He said quickly, the words falling out of his mouth in a panic. The guilt was trickling inside of him from the fact that he made Nini believe that his relationship with Gina was real all for this moment—the one thing he desperately wanted for the past month. For her to want him back. Despite the growing discomfort in his chest, he let out a deep breath, “The truth is… is that that’s been all I’ve been wanting to hear for the past month.”

He was an idiot. A complete idiot. 

Her smile grew wider at his confession, “ Really? ”

“Yeah,” he let out a breathy laugh, a forced smile on the corner of his lips, “the time I spent with Gina was great and I really, really care about her… but I think it was almost more of a distraction if anything because, for me…” there was a pause and Ricky looked down at his shoes. “It’s always been you. I miss you too, Nini.”

Over the past few weeks, he had rehearsed something like that in his head, of what he would potentially say to Nini if he had the chance. It was what he was supposed to say, right? That he missed her, that he loved her, and that she’s the only girl for him. And he meant it. Well, at least he thought he did.

Be honest with yourself.

Before he could even process it, Nini had jumped into his arms with a squeal. After a moment, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her small frame, a strange sound escaping his lips. 

Nini moved her head and looked at him in the eyes, then placed her lips onto his. It felt familiar; it was something that they had done countless times, and usually made Ricky’s stomach fill with butterflies, but this time it didn’t. It wasn’t what he had dreamed of feeling for the last month, in fact, he hardly felt anything at all. 

He kissed her back nonetheless, like he was trying to convince himself that he truly wanted to be kissing her. Once they pulled away, he set her down back on the floor, his hands placed almost uncomfortably on her hips, and stared down at her, “Uh… wow.”

“Yeah… wow.”

“What now?” Ricky asked, ignoring the voice screaming at him in the back of his head telling him it wasn’t right. At all.

“Well, I guess we'll spend the rest of our trip together… like we planned. Even if it is the last day.”

The small smile on his lips completely faded upon the realization that he no longer had any more time to spend with Gina. It felt like his world had flipped upside down all in one moment.

Before it’s too late.

“Gina?” Nini’s voice cut through his thoughts. Immediately his head snapped in the direction that Nini was looking, and low and behold, stood Gina in the doorway, fiddling with her bracelet. 

In an instant, Ricky’s arms fell from Nini’s hips and back at his side, “Gina…”

She looked between them for a moment, her lips parted in surprise and Ricky found it hard to breathe in that moment, like someone was standing on his chest and not giving. Her gaze dropped to the floor, “Um, sorry, I clearly just interrupted something… I should go.”

Ricky’s stomach fell to the floor as he watched her turn away. It felt like everything in the world had slowed and went quiet in an instant. The only thing he could hear was his heart beating in his ears and the sound of his uneven breaths. His head turned to Nini, whose lips were pressed in a thin line, clearly feeling uncomfortable. He swallowed, “I-I’m gonna go talk to her.”

She nodded, “Yeah… go.”

With that, Ricky was off in the direction that Gina had left. His heart hammered against his rib cage as he made his way into the lobby of their hotel, his eyes scanning the floor frantically for her. Quickly, he headed towards the elevators, and instantly spotted her waiting for the elevator to open. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, as she stared at the elevator door with a blank expression. 

He let out a deep breath, which came out more like a mangled sigh, “Gina! Hey—wait!”

She turned her head, her eyes showing a glimpse of surprise before they turned blank, “Bowen, hey…”

“How much of that did you see?” 

“Enough.” 

“Shit, Gina, it’s–”

“It’s nothing. I’m happy for you.”

“What?” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, head tilting while he tried to make sense of what was happening.

“It’s nothing, Bowen.” 

He wanted to believe her but the way she spoke and the way she seemed to be so distant was telling him that it certainly wasn’t nothing . 

“It’s clearly not nothing.”

“It clearly is nothing.” Gina started, her voice sounding a bit colder and harsher than it usually did, which felt like a punch straight to his gut. “You finally got what you needed… you got the girl… This is over.”

She was right. He got Nini back and that was the whole reason they were friends in the first place, but even so, this wasn’t over. This couldn’t be over. Not after all that they’ve been through the past ten days. 

“But I don’t want this to be over.” Ricky said, stepping closer to Gina.

“But it is over. This,” she responded, motioning between them, “ this is all fake. It was based on a lie, a lie that got you exactly what you wanted, so I don’t think we can keep pretending that we’re still friends.”

“Pretending that we’re still friends? I was never pretending to be your friend, Gina… never.” Ricky said, a knot forming in his stomach. “Why are you acting like this?” 

“Like what? I was doing you this favor, and I played my part and you got what you needed. You don’t need me anymore.”

His eyebrows drew together while his heart beat in his throat, “I can’t pretend that we’re not friends, Gina, of course I need you! What—it feels like we’re going in circles, please, just talk to me…”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Ricky.” Gina tore her eyes away from him. 

Ricky desperately wanted to know what was going on in her head. She was putting walls up, and clearly those walls weren’t budging. 

He rubbed his forehead in frustration, “Tell me how you’re feeling, please, because there’s something obviously very wrong and I… I care about you, Gi. Be honest with me. I can’t lose you—just, come on, please. ”

His last word came out in a whisper, desperation evident in his voice.

The whole world was moving quickly around them while they were in their own bubble. Ricky knew there were hotel goers surrounding them and probably could overhear their conversation, but he couldn’t have cared less. He only wanted Gina to talk to him. To give him something to hold onto.

She looked back up at him, her eyes glossy, and Ricky yearned to lean in and pull her into a hug. But she was too far away, in more ways than one. Biting the inside of her cheek, shaking her head and opening her mouth to say something, but the elevator dinged and the doors opened, letting a family out into the lobby.

Fuck. 

Gina turned her head towards the elevator, and then back to Ricky. His eyes told her not to go, but she went anyway. Following behind her, he quickly put his hand in front of the doors to keep them from closing. He stared at her for a beat, still trying to figure out what the hell was happening here, “If we’re not friends then what are we, Gina?”

She stared right back at him, her arms folded tightly against her chest, as if she was trying to read him as well. Her cheeks were stained red, her eyes glassy, and yet he still couldn’t get a read on her. Seconds passed and she broke their eye contact, “Your girlfriend is waiting for you.”

His jaw ticked, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips, “Gina–”

“ God, ” she sighed loudly, her breath shaking slightly, “what do you want from me, Bowen?” 

“I just… It can’t end like this.”

“But it’s going to! We’ve known each other for ten days, Ricky. That doesn’t make us best friends.” She said coldly, avoiding his eyes. “We’re graduating next week and then I’ll be off to New York and we’ll never see each other again, alright?”

Ricky felt sick, his heart willing to snap in half.

She continued, “You’re going to spend the rest of the summer with Nini, the two of you are going to have the time of your lives, and then in a few months time you’ll forget that this whole trip ever happened.”

“That’s not true.” He said in almost a whisper.

Gina looked up at the ceiling and inhaled sharply, “It’s true to me.”

He had never felt more crushed in his life, more crushed than he was when Nini had broken up with him over a month ago—this stung and burned and hurt him like hell. He had never felt this kind of pain in his life.

He didn’t even know what to say to change her mind. The seconds that passed loomed between them like an eternity, while Ricky struggled to breathe with the pain weighing on his chest. 

“Ricky,” she spoke softly, crossing her arms to her chest protectively.

He looked at her, a lump forming in his throat, hoping that she would say something else. Something that would change everything, something that would keep him from going back there with Nini. 

“Let me go.”

He knew that she was referring to letting go of the door and letting her leave to her room, but it felt like underneath it all she really wanted him to let her go. Let go of this trip, let go of their memories, let go of them.  

He felt tears begin to sting in his eyes as he looked back at her. His hand was still firmly placed on the side of the elevator as he waited for her to say something else. Anything else. But the only thing he got in return from her was silence, a long, deafening silence.

So without another word, he released his hand and let the doors close. 

He stared at the shut doors for what seemed to be minutes as travelers came and went onto the elevators. But he was stuck in place, absolutely devastated, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as his mind replayed the events that just unfolded.

After a while, a hand was placed on his shoulder, steadying him back to reality. “Is everything okay?” The voice that he could identify from a mile away made his stomach churn with guilt. 

He turned to look at Nini, whose brown eyes held a look of concern, but he couldn’t find any words to say to her. He was tired. Tired of the lies and pretending and playing the part. But he couldn’t hurt another person. He cleared his throat, “I’ll be right back.”

He made a b-line towards the restroom, and hit the door with such a force that it echoed on the walls. Bile rose in his throat as he found his way to the counter and stared back at himself in the mirror, his eyes burning as he held back the tears that begged to spill. “ Fuck. ”

Turning the faucet on and splashing cold water onto his face didn’t help like he thought it would. He felt terrible. Gina had quickly become his favorite person, maybe even his best friend, and he had lost her just as fast. And now it felt like a new brick was being set on his chest every minute that passed since she left him.

He tried to blink away the tears but they continued to sting as her words replayed in his head.

We’ve known each other for ten days, Ricky. That doesn’t make us best friends. 

How did everything get so backwards in the matter of a day? 

Twenty-four hours ago he had been nervously waiting in anticipation to take Gina to the ballet and finally give her the charm bracelet. But now? Everything turned to complete and utter shit.

Chewing on his bottom lip, he lifted himself up from the counter and swallowed hard in an attempt to compose himself. After looking back at his reflection one last time, he left the bathroom and was instantly met with his ex—no, girlfriend? Who the hell knew.

“Hey. Are you okay?” She asked hurriedly, pushing herself from the wall.

He sighed audibly. “I’m going to be honest with you, Nini. That fucking sucked.” His throat was raw and his voice was scratchy. 

She nodded like she understood. But she surely did not understand.

He wiped a hand down his face, “I just… I think it might be best if we,” he paused for a few beats before continuing, “didn’t tell anyone that we’re back. I don’t think it would be fair to Gina and Elias, you know?”

“Yeah. Yeah… of course.” She nodded furiously, taking a step closer to Ricky and grabbing his hand. He almost tore his hand away from her grasp, feeling wrong to be touching her. He felt wrong being around her. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. “Let’s get some air, yeah? We do have a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower…”

His head was pounding and his heart felt heavy. The last thing he wanted was another reminder of Gina, who was everywhere he looked in this city. They had curated so many memories together in just a couple of days of being here that almost everything reminded him of her. 

But he nodded his head anyway. Though his world felt like it was moving in slow motion, Nini’s sure didn’t seem to be. She dragged him through the lobby with a slight grin on her face as they burst through the doors of the hotel and into the city streets. 

“I’m glad Miss Jenn and Mazzara weren’t there to catch us.” Nini joked mindlessly, taking in their surroundings.

“Not much they could do anyway.” Ricky murmured, a lump forming in his throat at the reminder. Although the sun had set and Eiffel Tower was in view, his gaze subconsciously traveled upwards, staring up at their hotel, beginning to wonder which room was Gina’s. What was he doing? 

Nothing was right. It was all backwards.

It was the last day on his trip in Europe and he finally got the girl back. Ten days ago, he would’ve been bouncing off the walls at the idea of getting back together with Nini. But now standing in the streets of Paris with their hands intertwined together while she cried about going back home the next day, it all felt completely and utterly wrong. 

Nini came on this trip with another person and so did Ricky, even if it was all an act. Instead of healing his broken heart and moving on with his life, like he should have done in the first place, he inadvertently caused the heartbreak of Elias Scott and lost something… great with Gina.

He couldn’t shake this feeling of guilt and distress that was brewing inside of him. He had known Nini for as long as he could remember, but being around her in that moment could not have felt more wrong. The simple act of holding her hand felt wrong, hell, even being around her felt wrong. 

But the thing was, he knew why it all felt so wrong. He knew deep down that the thing causing him to feel this way wasn’t just a new, groundbreaking revelation. He’d known it for a few days. He knew it just twenty minutes ago. He knew it yesterday. He knew it after that night on the balcony. And no matter how much he tried to deny it, no matter how much he projected those feelings onto Nini, no matter how much he tried to push that feeling back where it came from—he couldn’t. 

And it scared him. It scared him to no end because Nini had always been the girl for him. She was familiar and steady; someone that had always been a constant in his life. He thought they were it for each other, he really did. They were supposed to spend their trip across Europe together, spend their entire college careers together and live happily ever after like they had always planned… but now that couldn’t be further from the truth.

But no matter how terrifying the truth was, he couldn’t run away from it anymore. He had gotten used to pretending, but there was nothing fake about this. 

He had feelings for Gina Porter. Real , irrevocable feelings. 

And he had royally fucked up.

Chapter Text

She wasn’t always right. 

Maybe she should’ve seen it coming. Maybe she was too blinded by her own feelings to believe that she even had a chance. 

Everything she felt, everything that was said between them, every moment, every small touch; everything that meant something to her, had meant nothing to Ricky. And that she knew. At least now.

But before, she held onto that hope that it wasn’t one sided between them. It wasn’t until she went to confess her feelings for a boy she’d known for less than two weeks, ready to lay it all out on the line, when she learned that it really was just her.

As much as she wished she hadn’t, she heard everything. She heard him. Loud and clear. 

“…the time I spent with Gina was great and I really, really care about her… but I think it was almost more of a distraction if anything because, for me… it’s always been you.”

And that was why as soon as she got back to her floor last night, she broke. She slid down the wall next to the elevator and she let the tears spill, not caring whether or not any of her classmates or hotel workers saw her. Because she should’ve known. She should’ve listened to that voice in the back of her head saying that it was too good to be true. 

Her fight with Ricky was what hurt most of all. 

It had all happened so fast. From getting ready to confess her feelings to seeing him kiss Nini and then pushing him away as far as she could. The look of panic on his face and his pleading words replayed in her head over and over again.

He confused her. It felt like there was something so much more to be said, but his actions said something completely different. But she knew what she saw and heard. He meant what he said to Nini. And he meant it when he kissed her. 

So in the midst of all her hurt, Gina ended their friendship when she should have been celebrating with him and played the supporting friend like she had been the entire time. But she couldn’t. Not when her heart had just bled open. 

She barely slept that night. The events of the day prior had played on repeat. She couldn’t pinpoint the moment where she got the lines blurred, where exactly she had a lapse in judgment—maybe it was just admitting her feelings out loud in the first place. After all, if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be in this specific situation.

It was when EJ came over to check on the girls just as they all had gotten back from the bar that night. 

“Do you want to keep pretending?”

Gina’s mind was still reeling over Ricky’s words, only making her perception of their relationship even more confusing because… what did he mean? 

So as she stared at the painting in front of her bed, trying to listen to EJ’s lecture on what would happen if they forgot their passports the next morning, the confusion and feelings that had been bottling up over the course of the last ten days finally exploded. 

“I like Ricky!” She had blurted out, covering her face in embarrassment as EJ's monologue abruptly came to a halt. 

“Oh my God.” She heard Ashlyn whisper under her breath. 

Gina didn’t want to uncover her face and see the faces of her two best friends. Agonizing silence filled the room as her friends took in the information she had just sprung onto them.

“What did you just say?” EJ said slowly after a few moments. 

Gina didn’t say anything. She immediately wanted to take it back and put it right back in the bottle where she had been keeping it. But a moment later, she felt Ashlyn’s warm hands pry her grasp from her face. 

Her best friend had a ghost of a smile on her lips, “What was that?”

A beat passed and her eyes flicked over to EJ. His arms were crossed, but he had a knowing look on his face. He didn’t seem surprised, though. With a small sigh, she repeated, “I like Ricky.”

“Is that really so bad?” Ashlyn asked softly.

“Yes!” She stood up suddenly, brushing past the redhead and headed over to the window. Her eyes scanned the scenery outside. “It was supposed to be… an act. That’s all it was supposed to be. And–and we’re friends. We’ve gotten really close this past week. I can’t just–”

“Like him?” EJ said.

“Like him.” She repeated slowly, turning around to look at her dearest friends. “I can’t.”

“But you can, Gi. You shouldn’t stop yourself from feeling what you feel.” Ashlyn said.

“But he’s in love with Nini, Ash.” The words tasted sour as they came out. She puffed a breath, “We’ve become best friends and it would just completely ruin everything. I don’t want to lose him.”

“But would it ruin everything?” EJ asked, causing Gina’s brows thread together in confusion. He glanced over to his cousin, who seemed to be on the same page as him. Then he continued, turning back to Gina, “Do you really believe that after everything he’s still in love with Nini?”

But wasn’t he? Still in love with Nini? 

She paused, her eyebrows still threaded together in concentration as she recalled the events of the past week. In the beginning everything was all about Nini, but as the week went on he began to stop mentioning her. He was stealing less and less glances towards her and he certainly hadn’t mentioned Elias. But yet, they were still pretending. So he had to be still in love with her. 

“We… We had that fight earlier.” She finally said. The same fight that seemed a little too real. The fight that she felt he saw right through her. “We’re still putting on this act. For Nini. He’s never said he doesn’t want her back.”

“That doesn’t mean his actions don’t.” Ashlyn replied. “Gina, he brought you to the Paris ballet. No—he snuck you into the ballet! He spent the entire night with you when you weren’t feeling well. That boy bought you those charms on your mom’s bracelet because he knew how much it meant to you. You two have spent this entire trip together and, I don’t know, I find it all very hard to believe that he still has his sights set on Nini.” 

“You know,” EJ began, turning to Gina, “when you told me about yours and Ricky’s little… plan, I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was weird, granted. A little insane, even, but I went with it.”

Gina nodded, not really having any idea where he was going with this.

“But then, I started paying attention. Not in a creepy way, obviously. And even when nobody was paying attention, even when the two of you weren’t acting I saw it. A spark. A spark that I had never seen between Ricky and Nini.” He paused, letting her soak in all of his words. “Gina, I saw the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. That was enough to fool me.”

The room fell silent as Gina gathered her head. Had it really been that obvious the entire time?

Her head was spinning. Could it really be true that Ricky felt the same way? Is that why he mentioned wanting to stop pretending? Something started to bubble in her stomach.

“There’s a hundred and one Ninis out there.” Ashlyn spoke after a few lingering moments. “But there’s only one Gina Porter.”

Her head was spinning and her heart was pounding, every moment between the two of them replaying on full speed. 

I’m glad it was me too.

You know why.

Of course I remembered.

Do you want to keep pretending?

“I don’t want to keep pretending.” She whispered to herself as the words of her two dearest friends sunk in. 

“What?” EJ asked, his brows threading together. 

Without another word she grabbed her phone and headed out of her hotel room, leaving the Caswells alone despite their frantic calls for Gina to return. But the only thing she had on her mind, the only person she wanted to see in that moment was Ricky. 

She entered the elevator and pressed his floor number. Once the doors opened to his floor, her stomach erupted with butterflies as her legs carried her to his door. With a knock, she let out a shaky breath.

Shuffling was heard in the room before it opened a few moments later, revealing Big Red. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Gina! Hey, what’s up?”

“Is Ricky here? I really need to talk to him.”

The boy pursed his lips and shook his head, “Um, actually, he went down to the lobby not too long ago.”

“Great! Thank you, Red. You’re the best.” She rushed out, her heart leaping at the thought of seeing Ricky. 

“Wait, Gina, I don’t think—” Big Red started, but he had no chance of stopping her. 

Without a second thought about why Ricky had gone down there in the first place or even the panicked look on his best friend’s face, she walked straight back to the elevator—full of adrenaline, nerves and a twinge of hope. 

The hope was the most exciting and exhilarating part of all of it. Hope that he really did feel the same way, hope that he didn’t want Nini back after all this time. That’s all she wanted. And then they’d figure it out. 

When she woke, for a split second, just one second, she had thought it was all a bad dream. But it wasn’t. 

She was exhausted. Mentally and physically exhausted from both the non-stop nature of the trip and from everything that went down last night. She wanted nothing more than to just get out of Europe and go back home. Wherever that was.  

Having woken up an hour early that morning, she found herself staring at the ceiling again. And then, after several attempts to fall back asleep that winded up in her tossing and turning, she decided to get up for the day. Maybe packing up all of her things would help her get her mind off of everything. Why couldn’t she just turn off her brain? For just a second? 

She didn’t feel like herself. She had never felt this way before. Her entire world was moving in slow motion and there was a dull ache in her chest that didn’t seem to go away no matter what she did.

Staying as quiet as she could to avoid waking her best friend, she folded all of the clothes in her suitcase and got dressed for the day. She dressed exactly as she was feeling: down. She threw on a pair of light pink leggings and a plain t-shirt, calling it a day and went back to packing the rest of her belongings.

Eventually, as she was zipping her toiletry bag, Ashlyn stirred in her bed, “Am I late?”

Gina’s brows furrowed, confused as to what her friend meant by the question. And then she pieced it together, “Oh, no, I just got up early. You still have ten more minutes.”

The redhead scratched her head and let out a yawn as she adjusted to her awakened state. After a few moments, she sat up further and glanced at Gina, “Wait… how did it go? With Ricky?”

Gina’s mouth instantly tasted sour, her heart sinking in her chest. She didn’t dare look at her best friend, knowing that one glance would give everything away. She let a few moments pass, not yet ready to say the words aloud, “He’s… back with Nini.”

Saying it out loud instantly brought tears to the surface and the deafening silence from Ashlyn did not help in the slightest. How could she possibly have any more tears left after last night? 

“I don’t—I don’t understand. I thought he…” Ashlyn said slowly, confusion evident in her voice. 

Thought he liked you. 

Gina blinked away the tears and shook her head, finally turning to the girl, “Well he doesn’t.”

Ashlyn’s features softened, a sympathetic look gleamed in her eyes as she scrambled out of the bed, “What happened?”

“Nothing. They got back together and that’s–that’s what we came here to do.” She wanted to cry so she turned away from her best friend. “I’m happy for him.” 

“Gina…” Ashlyn started, trying to meet Gina’s eyes.

“Ash, can we—can we just not talk about it?” She asked in a shaky voice. “We have to get ready.” 

There was a long pause, and Gina wanted nothing more than to just act like nothing had happened. Not wanting any more salt in the wound, she hoped that Ashlyn would let it go, at least for a while. And she did, even though Gina could feel her best friend’s sympathetic eyes on her every few seconds as they got ready. 

The time they spent getting ready was quiet and it was eating Gina alive. She just wanted to go back to normal, back to yesterday when she felt completely content and at ease just for one moment. 

“The good news is that we get to sit with each other during the flight.” She said after about ten minutes, when Ashlyn emerged from the bathroom with her belongings in hand. 

And though the two girls knew that the statement wasn’t the complete truth, Ashlyn went along with it. “I’ll be happy to be your shoulder to sleep on.” She had said with a sincere smile on her lips. 

Garnering a small smile from Gina, Ashlyn placed her toiletries in her suitcase. With a heavy sigh, she zipped up her suitcase, “I don’t want to leave. But I also miss Salt Lake.” 

“Yeah.” Gina agreed in a murmur, even though she desperately wanted to get out of Europe. 

“You know what would be the best way to cure our post-trip depression? Shakespeare in the park! We can even dress up—I think I have a few things from my time as High Priestess of the Renaissance Fair that would definitely fit the vibe.”

Cringing at the girl’s idea, she shook her head, “Sorry, Ash. I’m not going to Shakespeare in the park.”

“You are no fun, Gina Porter.” The redhead threw a pillow at her. 

The conversation dragged on for at least five more minutes, and Gina was a bit thankful for it. It got her mind off of the fact that she was about to see Ricky again, albeit across the room, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt any less. 

And soon after about a half an hour, when the girls had gathered everything and double checked for their passports, it was time for them to head downstairs. And though it felt bittersweet departing the room, Gina was ready to leave behind the memories made there. 

Once they made it down to the lobby, Gina made a b-line towards the front desk so she wouldn’t have to stand near the elevators and relive the events that unfolded the night prior. Ashlyn followed closely behind on her tail and a wave of relief flooded over her when she saw EJ with his arm slung around Kourtney. 

“Hey you two!” EJ grinned, his smile growing wider as they approached. Gina mustered up a small smile and said hello. He turned his attention to her, “How did everything go…”

His voice trailed and his gaze wandered over to Ashlyn, who most likely was signaling for him to not say a word . His brows furrowed and he cleared his throat, “Nevermind! You ready to go home, Gi?”

Gina’s eyes wandered to Kourtney for a moment, who held a confused expression. Gina wondered if she had heard the news. Nini surely would have told her best friend, right? 

“Yeah, more than ready actually.” 

There was a stretch of silence where the girl wanted to disappear; EJ was confused, Kourtney was confused, and Ashlyn was giving him the look that said I’ll tell you later. Eventually, the silence broke when EJ brought up how exhausted he was.

Gina tried to focus on their conversation, but every single nerve in her body was on high alert. Finally allowing herself to look around the room where all of her classmates stood in the lobby, she couldn’t help but notice that one person was missing. 

He certainly couldn’t be with Nini, because she was standing across the room, seeming to be scanning the surrounding area for him too. A pang of jealousy hit Gina like a ton of bricks, and she had to practically force herself to listen to the chaperones drone on. 

“…and I want to thank each and one of you for being on your best behavior this week. It’s been an absolutely wonderful experience.” Miss Jenn gushed, clasping her hands together thankfully. 

“We will be heading directly to the airport and will not be returning to the hotel, so I want every single one of you to double check and see if you have your passports.” Mr. Mazzara directed, holding up his own passport in the air. At that moment, eighty percent of the students rummaged through their belongings to find their passport. “This is very important, children. We’re talking life or de— Ah , Mr. Bowen, nice of you to finally join us.”

Gina’s stomach flipped, her focus immediately turning to the center of attention. His hair was a complete mess and he wore a wrinkly t-shirt that looked to be the one he had been wearing back in Berlin. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.

It was an indescribable feeling seeing him again after their conversation last night. The weight that she felt in her chest only sank further down.

Whispers erupted around the room, most likely gossip about the boy’s most recent “failed” relationship. 

“Not a complete surprise you’re the last straggler. Do we need to discuss the importance of punctuality, since you all are moving on into the real world in just a couple months?” The technology teacher added, looking up from his watch. 

Anger bubbled in Gina’s chest at the snide remark. Mazzara loved taking the opportunity to take subtle jabs at his students whenever he could, and every one knew that. 

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Ricky spoke, matching their teacher’s tone. 

The chatter and whispers came to an abrupt halt upon hearing Ricky’s back talk. Silence filled the lobby for a few looming moments. 

Miss Jenn, being afraid of confrontation, cleared her throat nervously, “Alright now, um, let’s get on with the show! How about we take attendance and then get out of their cheveu ?” The theater teacher giggled at the French translation of the word hair, trying to lighten the mood.

Gina was tuning her out. She couldn't look away from Ricky, no matter how much she wanted to. 

His lips curled into a deep frown, discontent and unease written all over his face. 

Their eyes met and in that moment, the world stopped. She sucked in a sharp breath while her heart was beating against her chest. Even from afar, she could see his eyes were dark and heavy from the lack of sleep. And a part of her felt guilty that she may be the reason he lost sleep. 

There was something undeniable about the way he was looking at her, pleading for another conversation, but her heart and soul ached. She couldn’t. Not when he didn’t feel the same. There was no pretending anymore.

While it felt like their eyes had been locked for an eternity, it had only been merely a few moments. Ricky wouldn’t look away and neither would Gina, until Miss Jenn called, “Ricky Bowen?” 

Their gaze broke momentarily as he responded to his name, breaking the pair away from whatever conversation was happening with their eyes. 

This snapped Gina back to reality and she had to force herself to look away from him, even though she felt his eyes back on her as soon as their teacher called out other names. So many emotions had filled her insides that she didn’t know what to do with herself, so she focused her attention on their chaperones even if she wasn’t really listening. 

“A gentle reminder that we will be stopping in Atlanta with an hour layover and then from there we’ll be back in Salt Lake! So just make sure you have your rides situated upon arriving back at the high school.” Miss Jenn explained.

A small wave of nostalgia overcame Gina at once. Even though they hadn’t left yet, even if she did desperately want to leave, she couldn’t deny the fondness in her heart that she would always have for this experience. 

So much had happened over the course of ten days. And though it hurt like hell now, maybe even the bad memories will turn into something beautiful.

She hoped. 

But we know where that got her the first time.

━━━━━━

“I know you told me not to mention it but, as the British would put it, Ricky Bowen is a complete cu–”

“Do not finish that sentence.” Gina interjected, cutting her best friend off as they moved through the line in customs. 

Ashlyn had made it all of an hour before bringing up the situation again. And even before bringing it up again, Gina felt every single pity gaze the girl sent in her direction. 

“No, Gi, I just don’t understand what happened.” Ashlyn sighed exasperatedly. “I was so sure.”

“That makes two of us.” She replied under her breath, fighting the urge to look for him in the sea of students. Instead, she settled her gaze on Nini, who was a few people away from her in line.

She looked happy and Gina couldn’t help but envy that. Even after breaking up with Elias, she got to be happy. It was hard to swallow the thought that Nini had Ricky back in the palm of her hands when she truly didn’t deserve him in the first place. 

But that’s why they did this whole thing, right? To win Nini back. And that’s what they did. She wanted to be happy for him, she really did, but it still stung. 

“Something just doesn’t feel right about this whole situation, Gina.” Ashlyn continued on. “Ricky’s not the brightest, but I didn’t think he was that dumb. I need to talk to Red. There’s no way he’s still into–”

With annoyance pricking at her skin, a small huff escaped Gina’s lips and she turned to the redhead, “Ashlyn, I love you, and I really appreciate your concern but I don’t think we should be talking about this right now with everybody around. I’m fine… I’ll get over it. I always do.” 

Ashlyn flinched slightly at the sharpness of Gina’s words. With a nod, she turned back towards the line. 

A small pang of guilt hit Gina as she saw the frown on the redhead’s lips. But the more she talked about it, the deeper the cut got. Thankfully, they were next in line to go through security with their passports in hand. 

Once the group had made it through security and customs, they had about an hour to roam the airport and get settled before their flight to Atlanta. 

Gina and Ashlyn first decided to grab something to eat before they made their way to their gate. Ashlyn had made sure to keep her lips sealed the entire time and Gina was grateful for that.  

Once they finished their meals, they headed to their gate. The pair were making their way through the airport traffic when Big Red met up with them and Ricky was nowhere to be found. “Isn’t this, like, the most depressing thing ever?” He said as he met their side.

“Top ten most depressing moments of my life.” Ashlyn replied. “But, aren’t you stoked to see Howie again?”

The boy’s cheeks flamed a bright red color, “Maybe. But I don’t want to make a big deal out of it! We’re just friends and I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Yeah, just friends for now . You said last night you were going to ask him out. Remember?”

“Ugh, shut up, don’t remind me! Can we talk about your love life or something?”

“My love life? Red, you know I’m not talking to anyone in particular.”

“What about the cute British girl you were flirting with earlier this week?”

“We were just flirting, that’s all! It wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyways.”

While she enjoyed listening to their conversation, Gina stayed silent, suddenly feeling strange being around Big Red. She was sure he heard all about Ricky and Nini getting back together after Gina had embarrassingly showed up at his door last night looking for Ricky. 

Once they reached their gate, Gina spied the nearest restroom, “I’ll be back. I’m going to use the bathroom.” 

The two redheads nodded in unison and Gina was sure to catch the sympathetic look in Big Red’s eyes as she walked off. She brushed it off and went to the restrooms.

When she exited the stall, she was met with the reflection of a familiar face. Instantly, her stomach flipped as they made eye contact in the bathroom mirror. What was it with her and Nini and meeting in bathrooms?

The tension that formed between the two girls felt immensely different than it had just a few days ago. Gina swallowed and tore her eyes away from the brunette, making her way towards the counter and started to wash her hands.

“Hey, Gina,” Nini finally said, turning to her fully once she finished washing her hands, “I don’t want there to be any hard feelings between us.”

Hard feelings? Did she expect Gina to be happy that she practically stole her boyfriend back? 

If you would have told her a week ago that she and Ricky had successfully pulled off getting Nini back, she would have been ecstatic that her trip to Europe hadn’t been wasted. She wouldn’t have cared that Nini got back together with Ricky. But that was all before she knew him. 

Gina knew that Nini wasn’t a bad person—she knew she really didn’t really have any malicious intent behind her actions. But what does it say about a person who decided to confess her feelings for her ex-boyfriend while he was supposedly fighting with his current girlfriend? The same ex she had dumped because long distance wasn’t going to work out, only to get into a relationship with a boy that was moving halfway across the country in two months time. 

In some ways, though she never wanted to admit it, she envied Nini. She got to have Ricky. Twice now. Which was a lot more than Gina ever got. 

She only ever wanted for him to be happy, and if that meant being with Nini, then so be it. 

She shook her head, a small shrug on her shoulders, “It’s okay, Nini.”

“I really don’t want you to be upset with me, Gina. I had absolutely no intention of…” Nini paused, trying to find the right words. Stealing him back? She continued, “getting back together with him. I don’t know… it just kind of happened?”

Gina bit the inside of her cheek, wondering how the girl in front of her could justify any of this. It sucked. And Ricky was never even hers. She crossed her arms, “Really, Nini. Yeah, it sucks. But me and Ricky… we were never meant to work out. I think a part of me has always known that the two of you were meant to be.”

Nini smiled softly, nodding, “Okay. I’m sorry again, Gina. I know we never got close or anything, but you’re really great. I think we could’ve been good friends.”

Gina felt like she was in the Twilight Zone. Never in a million years would she have expected Nini Salazar-Roberts to be saying they would probably be good friends less than twenty four hours after stealing her boyfriend. If she really wanted to be friends with Gina, she had an entire 10 days to get closer to her. 

With a thoughtful hum, she plastered a smile on her lips, “Thanks, Nini. Um, I should get back to the gate. We’re boarding soon.”

She left the restrooms almost as quickly as she got in there. Everything that had just gone down between her and Nini made her head spin. How did Gina go from being the brunette’s #1 enemy to a potential friend ? 

She still couldn’t grasp the idea that Nini was back with Ricky. It was too much, too soon. All of it.

Arriving back at the gate, purposely not scanning the surrounding area for Ricky, she plopped down next to Ashlyn, who had been texting on her phone.

“Where’d Big Red go?”

“Oh, he went to meet up with Ricky.”

Gina pressed her lips into a thin line, her stomach twisting at the mere mention of him. She nodded, “Right.”

A long pause stretched between the girls, before the redhead stood up, “I’m gonna go pee before we board.”

While the girl took off in the direction of the bathrooms, Gina took the opportunity to listen to her music. She grabbed her headphones and put them on, opening her music app and pressing shuffle on her upbeat playlist. She needed some type of pick-me-up.

She rested her head onto the back of the chair and shut her eyes, willing herself to focus on the song she was listening to in order to escape from her thoughts. She had gotten through two songs when she felt a presence in the seat next to her.

She peeked her eyes open, and to her surprise, it wasn’t Ashlyn. It was Carlos. As if running into Nini just ten minutes ago wasn’t enough torment… 

“ Heeey , Gina.” He greeted in an unconvincingly sweet tone as she removed her headphones, glancing down at her oversized sweatshirt that she thinks was her mothers circa 1999. He paused, “I really like your sweatshirt. It’s like a cute vintage moment…”

Carlos was not one to randomly compliment her or ramble on about her incredibly raggedy looking sweatshirt. There was something else he wanted to say to her. 

“…I’m not really a hoodie wearing guy myself but this is something I could maybe get behind with—”

“What do you want, Carlos?” She asked, cutting him off abruptly. 

Startled, the boy’s mouth had snapped shut. And then after a moment, his features gave in. “Look, it’s not my place, I know that, and I’m not going to say or do anything. I just want you to know that if you need to talk to anyone, you know, someone who knows… the situation… I’m here.” 

Even if that may have been the most confusing thing she had ever heard, it took her a few moments to collect herself. “Carlos, how do you…”

“I don’t know what happened, but I’ve spent the last ten days with both of you and I can tell when something is up. The vibes are off in the universe.” 

There was a long pause. Gina really appreciated Carlos checking in on her, even though he had been a big reason why she was there in the first place. 

“I really appreciate it, Carlos, but you don’t know the full story. I’m okay.”

Ricky and Gina faked a relationship. Gina actually fell for him. That full story?

Much to her surprise, he didn’t protest or insist he knew the full story. He simply gave her a small smile, “Well, you know where I live if you need anything.”

Gina’s brows furrowed, “No. I don’t know where you live, actually.”

“Shhh,” he shook his head, “don’t ruin the moment, Gina Porter.”

She opened her mouth to say something else, but the boy left her side just as quick as he had gotten there, leaving Gina in a daze of confusion. What was going on in the world today? First Nini was saying they would make good friends and Carlos Rodriguez was trying to comfort her? 

Stupid Ricky Bowen…

Instantly frowning at the thought that brought her right back to the day she agreed to be his fake girlfriend, she pushed it away and put her headphones back on. 

Ashlyn arrived back at their seats five minutes later and finally, after what seemed like forever, it was time for them to board their flight to Georgia’s state capital. 

They all got in line, scanned their tickets and made their way to their seats one by one. Ashlyn and Gina had gotten seated in the middle seats, and Gina didn’t even mind. 

As the entire plane got settled, Gina placed her backpack under the seat in front of her. As she did, the person in front of her turned back to face her, revealing a smiley drama teacher. 

“Gina! Ashlyn!” She gushed sweetly at the girls. “I feel like I’ve barely seen the two of you this trip. Did you girls have the best time? I found it all to be very romantic…” 

The two girls glanced at each other, slightly confused at what the woman had meant by that last statement. Deciding to ignore it, Gina forced a smile, “The best time, Miss Jenn.” 

“I’m already missing it.” Ashlyn replied.

“Me too.” Their teacher said with a sad smile. Before she could say anything else, the flight attendants had begun their spiel on airline safety. 

Gina sat back and settled further into her seat, trying to get as comfortable as she could. Once the flight attendants got through the safety lesson, she grabbed her headphones and put them on, resuming the playlist she had been listening to. 

She tried to ignore the voice in the back of her head that wondered what Ricky was doing, who he was sitting next to, and if he had gotten to have the window seat. Pushing those thoughts away as fast as she could, she focused her attention on Ashlyn, who was playing Candy Crush on her phone. 

Upon takeoff, Miss Jenn turned back to the two of them, “Say goodbye to Europe, girls.”

━━━━━━

Gina never minded flying. It was actually one of the parts of traveling that she enjoyed the most. But this particular flight? It felt cramped and she wanted nothing more than to get off that airplane.

Maybe it was the fact that the three flights she was on prior to this, she had spent with Ricky by her side. Even though she put up a fight in the beginning, she genuinely did enjoy his company. And the thought that he was somewhere on this flight, probably thinking of Nini, was no short of torture.

She spent the entire flight with her headphones on, not willing herself to talk to anybody. She even forced herself to watch a movie, which didn’t help distract her thoughts in the slightest. Despite the exhaustion and lack of sleep she was suffering from, she still was wide awake. It was like her brain just wouldn’t shut off. 

By the last hour, she and Ashlyn began discussing how worn-out and uncomfortable the flight had made them. And once they landed, the two girls were ready to walk about the airport and stretch their legs.

When everyone got off the plane, the two girls met up with EJ. He was still wearing his neck pillow and looked very well rested. 

“You look bright-eyed bushy-tailed, don’t you?” Ashlyn chuckled as they approached him.

“And you two do not .” He responded, his lips quirking upwards into a smile. “Kourt and I ended up watching two movies together and then we both fell asleep. I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well in my life.”

“You and Kourtney are so cute it makes me sick.” His cousin said.

Gina’s head was in the clouds as the two carried on their conversation. She didn’t feel like herself in the slightest, like she was sleepwalking in somebody else’s body. 

While she half-listened to her closest friends, her eyes scanned the surrounding area. There were pilots walking to their next job, travelers eagerly waiting to board their flights, her tired classmates conversing with one another… everyone had such different lives. And this was the life Gina was living. 

Her gaze then landed on the only person that’s been on her mind. He was talking to Big Red and Nini, making her stomach churn uneasily. He was laughing at something that his best friend had said, yet not paying any mind to the girl standing beside him.

Gina couldn’t understand how Ricky decided that it was okay to be seen with Nini just a day after their breakup. Even if it was fake, people would talk. 

Her heart swelled in her chest as she watched him with care. He looked tired and not really himself, but that could be due to all the traveling. Nini had chimed into their conversation and he leaned in slightly to hear her, making the pit in Gina’s stomach sink deeper. 

But it was almost like he had some sort of sixth sense in that moment, looking straight in her direction and catching Gina’s eye. Her lips parted as he held her gaze, even while he listened to whatever Nini had to say. 

She couldn’t understand how things got so backwards. It was too much, seeing him again with Nini after what she had seen last night. The image of the two embracing flashed in her mind and the tears threatened to spill. 

She blinked away the tears, looking away from him as quickly as possible and turned to her friends, cutting EJ off mid-sentence, “You guys hungry? I would love to grab something to eat.” 

EJ and Ashlyn glanced at each other for a passing moment before they nodded. 

About a half an hour later, the three had gotten themselves lunch and found a seating area nearby their gate. They sat in comfortable silence around the table, picking at their food.

Gina found that she barely had an appetite, which wasn’t a surprise, but made herself eat half of her meal. All she wanted was to be in the comfort of her own bed and in the presence of her mother. God, she missed her mom. 

“So are you guys still down to have a bonfire at my house on Thursday? I can send out a text to everyone when we’re home.” Ashlyn said as she shoved a forkful of her salad into her mouth, tearing Gina away from her thoughts.

“Oh hell yeah.” EJ sat back in his seat. “Kourt already said that she can help decorate the backyard, and she’ll definitely go all out. Oh, Gi, you’ve gotta make those s’more brownies!”

Ashlyn gasped, “Yes, Gi! Please, those are literally the best .” 

A small smile spread across Gina’s lips and she nodded, “Of course I will. Can’t have a fire without s’mores—even if they’re in brownie form.”

“Perfect. And then Red said he can supply the pizza so we’ve got that covered.” Ashlyn said.

Gina looked between the two cousins. EJ had a small frown on his lips, his brows pulling together, “But if Big Red comes, we’d probably have to invite…” he trailed, his eyes moving over to Gina.

Silence stretched between the three. 

“You can say his name, you know.”

It’d be kind of rude not to invite him, especially since he was there when this whole thing was planned. And he probably won’t even come away, since he’d be busy with Nini. Unless she’s invited. And that would be torture.

“Right.” EJ cleared his throat. “Well, he’s gonna come if Big Red comes.”

“Red has to come.” Ashlyn frowned.

In all honesty, Gina wasn’t even in the mood to have a party or put on yet another brave face and act like everything is okay. She’s used to fooling everyone around her, but she was getting tired of it. 

And the potential thought of Ricky being there? At Ashlyn’s house, with Nini on his arm, made Gina sick. 

Moving her eyes away from her meal, Gina looked around the airport corridor, only to find Ricky and Big Red sitting together across the way. It looked like they were both having a slice of pizza. Of course they were sitting so close to her. 

She tore her eyes away from them and let out a small sigh, turning to the group, “I don’t care about what we do or who comes. I’m good with whatever. I’m going to run to the bathroom.”

“You know you don’t have to run.” EJ joked lightly.

She forced out a small chuckle as she stood up, “Fine. I’m walking to the bathroom.”

Turning on her heel, she left her group behind and located the sign with the direction of the restrooms. She was hyper-aware knowing where Ricky sat, and that he more than likely could see her from where he sat with Big Red. 

She put on a collected expression and, with her best efforts, pretended to not pay any mind to the two boys she befriended the past week. She followed the signs and focused on making her way past all of the travelers making their way to their next destination.

“Yo Gina!” She heard a voice call as she rounded the corner and her stomach instantly twisted in panic. Immediately, her pace picked up as she tried to make it to the restrooms as quickly as she could, but luck wasn’t on her side. They seemed to be a mile away. 

And though she was pushing past as many travelers as possible, his voice grew louder and louder. She couldn’t talk to him. She said more than enough last night. Now that everything was so twisted and backwards, she didn’t know if she could—

His hand caught her wrist, bringing her and her thoughts to a screeching halt. She turned back to look and was met with tired eyes and a mop of messy curls. Her heart jumped in her chest and she glanced down at his hand still wrapped firmly around her wrist. 

“Gina…” he began, his chest heaving from chasing her down the corridor. She watched as his eyes traveled down to her wrist, where his eyes caught something.

She looked down and noticed he was looking at her bracelet, his thumb turning over one of the charms, making her chest tighten with an unfamiliar feeling. A shaky breath escaped her lips as the world seemed to slow down around them. 

After what seemed like an eternity, she rid herself of whatever spell he had over her and ripped her wrist from his grasp, “Leave me alone. I really don’t know what you want from me.”

Finally, she had the courage to look back into his eyes, where she saw a flash of hurt and disappointment. He recovered quickly, licking his lips, “I want to talk to you, Gi. I have to—I have to explain everything.”

She searched his eyes for a moment. Why did he have to call her Gi? Hit her where it hurts, right Ricky? 

“There’s nothing to explain. You’re with Nini… it’s all very simple, Bowen.” She kept her voice steady, crossing her arms protectively against her chest. 

He closed his eyes for a second, like he was trying to hold back from saying something. “Just let me drive you home when we get back.” He prodded. 

“No!” She said incredulously. The thought of Ricky driving her home after everything that happened made her head spin. “I don’t think that would be easy to explain to your girlfriend or anyone else around us, now would it?” 

“Can we just not talk about Nini for once?” he sucked in a sharp breath, clearly frustrated. She couldn’t understand what he could possibly have to explain or to say to her after everything. She was the one pushing him away. She was the one with the unrequited feelings.

So what did he want from her? For her to spill her guts and possibly make everything worse? 

They held each other’s gaze for a moment and Gina could have melted right then and there. She missed him and them , even if it had been less than a day, and she was already tired of running away. But what was she supposed to do? Sit by and watch him and Nini fall back into love?

There was also that undeniable pull that she had towards him, making her wonder how in the world he didn’t feel it too. It took everything in her power to look away from him. “Then we have nothing else to talk about.” 

He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head, “You and I both know that’s not true. You’re expecting me to sit back on another five hour flight and act like everything is okay?”

“Everything is okay. You’ll be just fine.” She lifted her hand and patted his shoulder, noting the way he flinched at the contact. She instantly frowned, feeling the pit in her stomach grow deeper and deeper. A lump formed in her throat and she could no longer fight the tears that were starting to manifest behind her eyes. Her voice cracked, “You’re a great actor after all.” 

Then she turned away from him in one swift movement and headed towards the restrooms, not giving him any chance to say anything else. And for once, he didn’t follow her. She held back her tears as best as she could while pushing through the airport traffic, until she made it into the bathroom and let a single tear fall from her eye. 

Never in her life had she been more heartbroken and humiliated. How could she let herself fall for Ricky Bowen? His intentions had always been on Nini. She knew that. She knew better. But there she was. 

She wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. She ignored both the side glances and looks of concern she was receiving from the other travelers and went into the nearest stall. 

She took out her phone and noticed she had a text from her mom. 

Did you land in Atlanta yet? Text me when you land in SLC! Love you baby

She was overcome with an overwhelming yearning to be with her mother at that moment. She wanted to tell her mom everything , from how amazing her trip was to just how awful she felt then. She even wanted to tell her all about Ricky. What would she tell her though? How great he was and how she was dumb enough to fall for him?

Yeah we have an hour layover here.

Miss you so much mom!

A lump formed in her throat as she typed out the second text. The only thing getting her by was the fact she was seeing her mother in a week for graduation, and then they’d work something out. They always did.

She swallowed hard, trying to compose herself the best as she could. To think that just five minutes ago she was sitting around a table with her two best friends, slightly enjoying herself and now she felt completely drained. 

Gina stood there, her feet glued to the tiled floor as she processed what had just happened. She knew that Ricky had to be confused and most definitely wanted an explanation for everything, but why did he need to explain anything? 

Their plan had worked and he had gotten back with Nini. He had absolutely nothing to clarify. It was Gina who should be explaining. She was the one who pushed him away for no good reason, she was the one who let everything get real. It wasn’t his fault… It just hurt too bad right now. 

She mustered up the energy to move after about five minutes and exited the stall, staring at herself in the mirror. It felt like she was looking at a completely different person. She forced herself to look away and washed her hands.

Once she left the bathroom and slowly walked back to her friends, her phone buzzed. Another text from her mom.

Miss you too GiGi. 

Text me when you land!! Xo  

Her mother then proceeded to text her seven different emoji hearts, earning a smile from the teenage girl. 

She shoved her phone away when she arrived back to where her friends sat, her heart not allowing herself to see if Ricky and Big Red were still sitting nearby. She sat down back in her seat, her best friends eyeing her wearily. 

They saw Ricky chase her down, hadn’t they?

She pressed her lips into a line and shrugged, “It’s fine.”

“Gina…” EJ said carefully.

“I’m okay. Let’s move on, alright? Is there anything else you want me to make for the party?”

She hated this feeling. The feeling that her two best friends—even Carlos—pitied her and felt the need to walk on eggshells around her. The feeling that sat in her chest and sank further whenever she thought of Ricky Bowen. 

Luckily, her friends moved on quickly and allowed her some room to breathe. And before they all knew it, it was time to start for their gate. When they approached, most of their classmates and teachers were gathered together by the information desk. 

They caught up with the group and soon the chaperones began to start calling attendance for one of the final times. Gina was itching to get on the plane and get the flight over with. The thought of another five hour flight, knowing that Ricky and his real girlfriend were somewhere—possibly sitting next to each other—made her sick. 

“Ricky Bowen…” Miss Jenn called as she read through the list of names.

“Here.” He responded, his voice projecting from a direction behind Gina and her friends. Without a further thought, she turned back to look at him where he stood leaning against a post. 

She instantly gained his attention and their eyes met once again, causing her stomach to flip. But this time, the girl turned away, not letting herself go through that again. 

“Flight 1176 to Salt Lake City will now begin its boarding process…”

When it was their turn to board the plane and the girls arrived at their seats, Gina decided to let Ashlyn have the window seat without any protest. As they sat down, she had put her headphones on right away and pressed play on her music in an attempt to take her mind off of what had happened just thirty minutes before with Ricky. 

She spent the first hour of the flight with her music on full-blast, which actually did calm the storm that had been happening in her brain for a while. But the storm never stays calm forever.

Somewhere in the third hour of the flight, when the sun began to set and the redhead next to her dozed off, Gina found herself clicking on her camera roll. 

Her most recent photo had been of everyone at the bar last night, posing for a group photo begrudgingly taken by the bartender. They were all doing silly faces, throwing up peace signs and looking as happy as ever.

She scrolled to the next photo and her chest immediately tightened. It was a selfie she had taken with Ricky earlier that day at the Palace of Versailles, in the garden. It had been taken minutes before Gina mistook a moment between them and was about to confess her feelings for him. 

The next few photos were of Ricky posing next to the statues, some with his tongue sticking out and the others with a genuine smile. She remembered she tried so hard to get that smile out of him. 

She scrolled and scrolled through each of the photos, stopping on the ones of Ricky for a beat too long each time. One of her favorites of him was from two nights ago, when they bought their celebratory gelatos for not getting caught sneaking into the ballet. She snapped a picture of him mid-bite, completely catching him off guard. 

Moments before the photo had been taken, he turned to her and said, “You know, tonight has been a gelato fun.”

She replied something along the lines of, “You couldn’t have possibly come up with that one yourself!” 

Although she was hurting, she still couldn’t suppress the chuckle that bubbled in her chest at the memory. He did just about anything to make her smile. 

Her laughter didn’t last long though, because the more she thought about the good memories, the more the pain sunk in. The more she missed spending time with him. So she turned her phone off and forced her eyes shut, hoping that she could fall asleep to settle the uneasiness inside of her. 

And eventually, with the help of the music drowning out her thoughts and the exhaustion her body was then experiencing, she was finally able to fall to sleep.

━━━━━━

They landed in Salt Lake City around 7pm. The sun was setting behind the mountains, a decent amount of traffic littered the streets, and the city lights were beginning to illuminate. Everything looked the same. Everything stayed the same.

Everything had been a blur since the moment Gina stepped off the plane. She was in a complete daze while they claimed their luggage and caught the coach bus back to East High. 

She hadn’t even tried to look for him since they got back—she wouldn’t allow herself to. The entire day she had been burdened by this crushing feeling weighing on her and she couldn’t bear it anymore. She didn’t know what would happen if she were to make another look in his direction, especially now that they were back home. 

When they finally arrived back at the high school and got off the bus, Miss Jenn gave a very long (tearful) speech about how much she was going to miss everyone and how excited she was that they all got the opportunity to travel together. 

Though Gina may have appreciated it ten days ago, right now all she wanted to do was grab her suitcase and climb into her bed. Her trip to Europe was officially over. They didn’t have to drag this out.

Everyone was exhausted and ready to head home so that they were ready for school in the morning, even if half of the students were planning on skipping that day. Skipping school the following morning actually sounded appealing to Gina, but she couldn’t let herself break her perfect attendance record. No, not because of Ricky Bowen.

Finally, after Miss Jenn’s long-winded goodbye speech, they were all able to collect their belongings and go home. 

Once Gina got her suitcase, she swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked straight to EJ’s car, even though the water-polo captain was in the middle of saying goodbye to Kourtney at that point. Ashlyn, too, was still saying her goodbyes to their classmates.

They met up with Gina at the car about five minutes later and EJ threw all of their luggage into the back. 

“Just let me drive you home when we get back. ” Ricky’s voice rang in the back of her head as she got into the backseat. She swallowed thickly and pushed the thought out of her head straight away.

The drive to Ashlyn’s house was short in real time, but it seemed to last an eternity. Everything felt so strange. Everything felt so different. It felt like a lifetime ago since she had been here. 

EJ pulled up to his cousin’s house and they all got out, grabbed their luggage and headed inside. The three were instantly greeted by Ashlyn’s parents, who engulfed the trio into a group hug as soon as they stepped through the door. 

It was nice seeing both of them and catching up on everything, from what has been going on in the Caswell family to how their trip went. But after twenty minutes, Gina’s mind started to wander and all she wanted was to crawl into her bed. 

So after saying goodbye to EJ, who was just about ready to head out the door, her legs guided her straight to the guest room she had been staying in for the past year. 

Walking into the room, she was hit with a tremendous wave of nostalgia. It was almost as if she could see the version of herself that was before leaving for the trip walking around the room, being so giddy and excited to travel across Europe. She came back an immensely different person, and she knew exactly why that was. 

She ditched her suitcase at the door, grabbing a t-shirt and sweatpants from her dresser and changing into them. 

Not even bothering to take her makeup off, she climbed into bed. She laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling, her chest feeling heavy. She wondered if this was a feeling that would last forever or if the ache would ever get duller. 

She lifted her wrist, her gaze settling on her bracelet and its newest editions. Her stomach filled with warmth as she stared at the pendants, each one thoughtfully picked out according to the city. 

Ricky getting the charms had meant so much to her because he knew what it meant, he knew the significance behind her bracelet because he paid attention. He might’ve played it off as a small and friendly gesture, but it had meant everything to her. It still did. And that made everything hurt so much more. 

The same Ricky Bowen that picked these charms out was the same Ricky that kissed Nini the very next day. 

After a few moments, Ashlyn appeared in the doorway, “All settled?”

She nodded, “Yeah. I’m just about to go to bed, that jet lag is going to be a nightmare.”

Ashlyn chuckled, “Oh totally . It’s what? 4am in Paris?”

“Sounds like a song title. 4am in Paris.” Gina joked lightly, trying to distract herself from the sadness poking at her heart.

Her best friend laughed in response, “I’d stream it. Anyways, I’m going to get some rest too. See you in the morning?”

“Yeah. See you in the morning.” Gina replied softly.

There was a pause and Ashlyn looked to be hesitating. After a moment, she let it out, “I know you don’t want to talk about it, Gi, and I’ll shut up after this. But don’t act like this whole thing doesn’t hurt you… it’s okay to show how you feel.”

What seemed like for the millionth time that day, tears began to brim her eyes at her friend’s words. She blinked a few times, turning away from Ashlyn and curling further into her bed, “I faked it in the beginning.” She shrugged, reaching for the light switch, “I’d rather fake it until the end too.”

She turned the light off and darkness engulfed the two girls. Gina could still see her best friend’s outline in the doorframe, making her feel guilty for shutting the lamp off. But she was just sick of all of it and most certainly didn’t want to talk about it. “Night, Ash.” She mumbled into her pillow.

“Goodnight.” The girl responded before shutting the door, leaving Gina alone with her thoughts. 

Even though her heart was tired, she couldn’t help but think of what he was doing. Had he driven Nini home from the school? Was his father waiting up for him? She frowned, angry with herself for even letting her thoughts go there. It’s back to reality now. 

She forced her eyes shut, hoping that these thoughts would just disappear. She tried to think of anything else. It was nice being back in the comfort of familiar territory, but it wasn’t home. Her home was the faint smell of fresh laundry, curly hair and a sideways grin. 

For the first time in a while, there was no spending every night together, no bidding each other goodnight in the hallway outside of her hotel room, and no goofy goodnight texts that made Gina’s heart skip a beat. 

Now she was back in Utah, back in her own bed, and hopefully in the morning she would be back to the same girl she was before she left for Europe. The same Gina Porter that didn’t know a single thing about Ricky Bowen.

Chapter Text

Two days had gone by since arriving back in Salt Lake City.

The sun was shining outside of Redonovich’s Pizza Parlor. Bright rays peeked through the blinds and beamed down over Ricky who, unlike the city outside, sat with a dark cloud hanging above him.

His attention was fixated on his best friend and his co-worker–slash–crush-thing, who were chatting in the kitchen as Howie rolled out some pizza dough. Now that Ricky knew about their workplace romance, the two had no shame in hiding the connection from him.

He didn’t mind though. He was happy that Big Red found somebody as great as Howie, even though Ricky would never say that out loud. 

There was a slice of half eaten pizza in front of him that he had been picking at for the last hour. He hadn’t been able to stomach anything since he had gotten back and even his favorite slice of Red’s pizza wasn’t doing it for him. 

“I made that with love, you know, Richard.” Big Red said coming from out of the kitchen. 

Sitting back in his seat, he shrugged, “And it’s delicious.”

“There’s a but!” Big Red said before Ricky could say another word. 

“ But —I’m just not hungry.” He finished.

“You’re always hungry.”

“Yeah, you would have usually devoured three of those by now.” Howie said as he strutted out of the kitchen, throwing a dish towel over his shoulder. 

This was true. Ricky usually had a great appetite whenever he came in (and in general), but he just hadn’t really been hungry. 

He mumbled something incoherent and shoved the slice of pizza towards the redhead. He slumped in his seat, “I guess I’m just not in the mood.”

Howie and Red exchanged a glance and Ricky didn’t even pretend to not notice. What they were concerned about was written all over the boy. He was a complete and total mess. 

Why, you ask? 

Well, you already know why.

He hadn’t been the same since that night in Paris. The entire world was continuing on as normal, but that evening was stuck on a continuous time loop in his head. From getting back together with Nini to watching Gina walk away—and letting her.

He wished he could go back in time and smack himself upside the head. He wasn’t sure it was possible to be that stupid. But here he was, back together with his ex-girlfriend while his heart belonged to someone else. 

He had skipped school Monday, just as he planned to, and only showed up for two periods today. He wouldn’t be surprised if the school had already called his father due to his lack of attendance after the trip. He could tell his dad was becoming increasingly concerned with his attitude, especially when he had barely said two words to him the night he got home. 

He’d been moping around the house and now he’s moping in Red’s pizza shop. He’s spent the past two days kicking himself, trying to forget the look on Gina’s face after she saw him kissing Nini. Or her words back at the airport when he tried to talk to her. It stung each and every time. 

As if he wasn’t already a total wreck without her, he still had to deal with Nini. 

He’d been ignoring her texts and phone calls since the minute he got home the other night. The guilt of stringing her along had been heavily weighing on him. He never wanted to do that to Nini, to get back together with her when he truly didn’t want to, and he didn’t know why he let himself.

Maybe it was just because it was the easy way out. Admitting his feelings for Gina had been something so terrifying for him. Because that meant that everything had changed. He’s changed. But he’s come to realize that changing and growing wasn’t all that scary. 

And if he had just admitted his feelings for Gina just five minutes earlier, none of this would have blown up in his face. He probably wouldn’t be sitting in Big Red’s pizza shop, shamefully third wheeling while his mind never left the girl he spent his senior trip with. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket, indicating he had a notification.

Hey where r u??

He groaned audibly after reading the text, “Ah shit, I’m late to pick up Nini.” 

A few moments passed and he started typing.

Be there in ten. Running late - sorry!

“You gonna do it?” Big Red asked as Ricky reached for his keys.

He sighed in response. “I gotta, man.”

“Did I miss a page?” Howie quirked a brow, looking between the two boys. “I mean Big’s already filled me in on the whole fake dating in Europe gone wrong thing. What’s going on here?”

“Did you know that the whole fake dating in Europe gone wrong thing is actually all your fault, Howie?” Ricky tilted his head.

“My fault? I didn’t force you to do it.”

“You’re the one who came up with the grand idea in the first place. I’d say it’s your fault.” 

“Don’t mind him, Howard. He’s had his panties in a twist since the day we got back, he’s lovesick and is about to break up with Nini.” Big Red explained to the boy beside him. 

“Oh wow.” Howie hummed, seeming a bit surprised. “The plot thickens. You’ve really got a movie-like love triangle there, Bowen.”

“Actually I’d say it’s more like a fan-fiction love triangle.” The redhead chimed in. “ Way too much has happened for it to all fit inside ninety minutes.”

With an eye roll, Ricky grabbed his plate and threw it in the trash can beside the counter. “As much as I would love to sit back and have this wonderful conversation, I have to go.”

━━━━━━

He sat in front of the Salazar-Roberts residence like he had countless times before while he waited for Nini. There was a pit of nerves in his stomach that he couldn’t quite shake, but he knew this was the right thing to do. He couldn’t keep the act up, keep stringing along more people, keep lying to himself. It wasn’t right.

He was skipping through songs on his drive playlist when he noticed Nini coming into view in his peripheral, the knot in his stomach growing tighter. He’d been dreading this since the moment he’d gotten back with her in Paris.

“Hey you!” Nini gushed as she opened the passenger door to the orange buggy. 

He swallowed, “Hey.”

Once she got in and buckled, Ricky started to pull away from her house. He didn’t have any idea where he was going, but he knew he couldn’t just break up with Nini in front of her house. 

“Okay, I was thinking we could either get the supplies to decorate our caps for graduation or I thought you could help me make graduation cards for everyone in theater.” 

“Doesn’t matter to me…” Ricky mumbled absentmindedly as he focused his attention on the road. 

“Well, what do you feel like doing? Writing or decorating?” 

“I don’t really have a preference.” Ricky shrugged, suddenly starting to feel the tag of his shirt digging into his neck. 

“Are you not excited?” Nini asked after a few moments. 

“No, no… it’s not that.”

“What is it then? We don’t have to do either of those things, it’s really fine…”

He stared ahead at the road, feeling the nerves bubbling up as Nini burned a hole in the side of his face. He sighed, “It’s just…”

Where were the right words?

“Nini, isn’t it kind of weird that we don’t really have any inside jokes?”

“We don’t have any?”

“No, we don’t.” 

She paused for a few seconds, clearly racking her brain for any shared jokes between them. “Well, um, I guess it is a little weird.”

“And when’s the last time we really talked about, I don’t know, our futures or what scares us?”

“Ricky, we were broken up for a month…”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, “I know, I know, but when was the last time we really talked?”

He could feel Nini’s confused eyes on the side of his face. It took a moment before she could respond, “Are you feeling okay?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line. No, he wasn’t feeling okay. None of this was sitting right. The way Nini was able to act like she hadn’t broken up with him a month ago and that the two of them were supposed to just go back to normal. How did he ever think that was going to work? 

Overcome with emotions, Ricky pulled over. His fingers tapped the steering wheel as the nerves built in his stomach. He couldn’t pretend any longer. 

“Ricky, what are you–”

“Why did you break up with me?”

“What?” Nini asked, her brows threading together.