Chapter Text
“I’m not here for… Nini I need to break up with you.”
“What?”
***
He wasn’t sure what started it.
Maybe her love of festive cookies or her unwavering competitive streak, or how she stopped time when she performed. Maybe it was the way she tried to hold back her grin when he tried to tell a joke or the blush that rushed up to her cheeks when he complimented her dancing. Or maybe it was the quiet moments when her name had appeared on his screen that instantly turned his worst days into his best ones.
Whatever brought it along, there was one thing he could grasp amongst the mess of his thoughts - Ricky Bowen was in helplessly love with Gina Porter.
But despite this one sure thing, Ricky was standing outside the Youth Actors Conservatory at 11pm, one hour before Valentine’s Day. And he couldn’t seem to figure out why.
When Nini took him in her arms as he reached her door, his body went stiff. He tried to hug her back, but his hands were cold and callous, the warmth that he had once felt in her arms long gone, finding him longing for another. Nini didn’t seem to notice, though, running over to her keyboard before Ricky could get a word in.
“Happy Valentine's Day, Ricky. I, uh, I wrote you something the weekend I left,” she beamed, fingers hovering over chords.
“Oh,” was all Ricky could get out, causing a frown to dash across the girl’s face. He cleared his throat, trying to fill the time as he search for a better answer, but all that he could find was, “won’t you wake up your neighbours with a song this late?” Nini laughed dryly, but Ricky wasn’t exactly joking.
“I’m glad you came before Valentine’s,” Nini started to play, an unreciprocated smile shining towards the boy. “I was going to send you this over Snapchat or something but… Yeah I’m glad you came, Ricky.” Ricky couldn’t help but feel like Nini had some anxiety bubbling below the surface. Almost as if she was unsure of him, unsure of them. And Ricky couldn’t blame her.
Nini began to dive into the chorus of her song, but Ricky couldn’t help his mind from wondering elsewhere.
“But darling when you smile it’s like the rain dries out, now there's no more room for clouds,”
Ricky recalls the last time he spoke to Gina. It was at rehearsals a few days ago when she was teaching the ensemble choreography. Normally when Ricky wasn’t involved in rehearsals he would play Candy Crush on his phone or start daydreaming about the weekend ahead.
But never when Gina was in charge.
He couldn’t help but be transfixed by how focused she looked when she taught steps, or the way her nose scrunched up when the cast could never reach her level of skill. On Thursday, when Gina was teaching ‘Be Our Guest’, there was a storm outside. The bad weather always made Gina upset (and Big Red’s inability to do a basic box step wasn’t helping). Ricky’s heart ached at the girl’s frown, so he did the first thing he could think of. He tripped his best friend. In hindsight, his decision wasn’t the smartest move, but the smile returning to the girl’s face for the rest of rehearsal made it worth it.
The rain cleaned up soon after that.
“Got me singing Hallelu, oh Hallelu oh, when you hold my hand it just reminds me of,”
Before auditions, Ricky was terrified. With Nini gone and Gina distant since the New Year, he felt the eyes in the theatre tracking his every move, prodding him as to why he showed up in the first place. He didn’t want to talk to his girlfriend about his nerves, and instead he found himself cowering backstage, his nerves causing his whole body to shake. Until he felt a hand brush against his shoulder.
“Something got you worried, Bowen?” He turned to meet brown eyes smiling up at him, and the wall that was up around him quickly melted. Ricky hadn’t spoken to Gina since… since opening night.
“Hmm, I don’t know Porter. I think the thought of auditioning for a musical after I completely ruined the last one might have something to do with it? You’ll have to check my symptoms thought, I can never be sure of these things.” Ricky felt grateful that they had sunk back into their normal rhythm. The comfort and understanding he missed had swiftly returned in the shape of a teenage girl. Gina chuckled softly, looking out onto the stage where her new brother, EJ Caswell, currently stood. She paused for a moment, hesitating, before letting herself talk.
“Do you remember when you sang to me? After homecoming?” The thought made Ricky smile so wide that he didn’t notice how red the memory turned Gina.
“I don’t think I can ever forget,” Ricky laughed softly, shaking his head. “That rendition was a… unique choice.”
“But a good one. A really good one, Ricky.” Gina looked more sincere now, a face he recognised from the night they shared in his orange jeep. “You’re super talented, Ricky, even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself.” She spoke the end of her sentence in a hushed tone. He opened his mouth to disagree, but Gina stopped him before you could start. “You are your best self when you let go. Let them see you Ricky. Let them you how you were after rehearsal.”
Ricky was speechless. She knew him. She really knew him. And as much as he wanted to tell her, he couldn’t get the words out, and was left starting into Gina’s eyes. Gina laughed softly at the sight before her, hesitating, before looking back the bewildered boy’s eyes with a mixture of love and sadness that she’d felt even deeper each day since homecoming (but Ricky didn’t need to know that). EJ’s rendition of ‘Evermore’ swelled around them, tying them together into a dream that they never wanted to wake up from. There was no grand gestures or dance routines. Just Ricky and Gina. Gina and Ricky. It was perfectly them.
Until they woke up.
The pair were cut out of their fantasy once Miss Jenn’s voice pierced through the auditorium, calling for Ricky and snapping their mutual gaze apart. Gina cleared her throat, looking down to her shoes. She hesitated once more, before snaking his handing into his. She gave it a quick squeeze before dashing out into the audience, warming up his now steady hands.
Ricky performed the best he ever had that day.
Gina barely spoke to him since the audition. Their shoulders brushed in corridors, short jokes were exchanged, but nothing substantial. Ricky tried to get corner her in the pizza shop, wanting to ask her why everything had changed, why they couldn’t go back to the way things once were. His attempts were futile. And besides, Ricky already knew the answer to his questions.
“There’s still cool people in the world.”
“Nini we need to talk.” Ricky’s words brought him back to reality, the bed he sat on suddenly feeling like stone. She stopped playing abruptly, the colour draining from her cheeks.
“Ricky… is everything okay? Is it your parents? You know you can talk to me. Is that why you came or-“ Ricky cut off the brunette, his palms fiddling with his jacket’s buttons.
“I’m not here for… Nini I need to break up with you.” The words landed heavy in the room, falling flat in front of the girl.
“What?” Nini croaked out, her vision blurred.
Ricky remembers the rest of the night in pieces. Nini’s necklace torn from his neck. Sheet music spilling across the floor. Nini’s face hot with tears. Ricky’s face plain. The train ride home. Crashing on to his bed. Sleep.
But when he awoke on Valentine’s Day, he felt anything but scattered. As he opened his phone, he was greeted with Gina’s smiling face looking back at his, stood in front of a plate of cookies shaped as hearts with all of their names.
ginarina: get excited for GALentines day my fav drama geeks!!!!!!!! #recipeasoldastime
edward-jacob: did you make a sugar free one for me?
ginarina: you already know i did. i noticed the ‘e’ from your name was missing from your cookie this morning, bro.
kourtney: exposed in the drama geeks groupchat. that’s gotta sting.
edward-jacob: belle isn’t supposed to bully her love interest.
ginarina: i disagree. your style is effective, kourt. it keeps them chasing after you!
Ricky chuckled softly at the conversation before him, before scrolling up to stare at the picture Gina had sent. He spotted ‘BOWEN’ written in white across the biggest cookie on the platter, a small guitar painted under his name. He felt his stomach warm up, his smile widening as the morning sun washed over the room.
There were two things Ricky now knew to be true. The first? Ricky was himself again. And the second? It remained the same. Ricky Bowen was in helplessly love with Gina Porter.