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Gina is comfortably sitting on one of the gym mats in the backstage of the school theatre, waiting for rehearsal to start in fifteen minutes and chatting with Carlos and Ashlyn, who are sitting next to her.
And that’s when she hears the door opening, then some heavy steps dragging on the floor, closer and closer, then thumping on the stage steps. And then he appears.
EJ looks absolutely wrecked. He lazily raises a hand, weakly waving hello, before dragging himself towards the mat where the others are sitting. He drops his water polo duffel bag, letting it crash on the floor with a loud thump, then flips himself on the mat, laying face down on Gina’s lap.
The girl bursts out laughing, lightly placing a hand on EJ’s head.
“Hi, Eej” she greets him. “I gather practice was particularly rough, today” she comments.
“You have no idea” he mumbles, his voice muffled by the fabric of the girl’s jeans he’s lying on.
She laughs again, threading her fingers through his hair that – she finds out – is still wet.
“You could have at least used the hair dryer, EJ” Ashlyn reprimands him. “If Gaston gets sick two weeks before opening night, we’re screwed.”
He limits himself to waving a hand in front of his cousin’s face to dismiss her reproach.
“Also, you smell like chlorine. Yuck” the redhead adds, lightly slapping away the boy’s hand.
Gina grabs EJ’s wrist and pulls his hand closer to her face.
“No, it’s not yucky!” she contradicts her best friend. “I love the chlorine scent, it’s so EJ-y!” she explains, inhaling the faint scent coming off of EJ’s skin.
She loves the way he smells right after water polo practice. The mixture between the fragrance of his body wash and the odor of chlorine makes up a scent that’s uniquely EJ’s and makes her feel… at home.
The boy turns around, so that he’s now lying on his back but still resting his head on Gina’s lap. She’s still holding one of his hands up to her face and he raises the other one and points at her.
“This is why you’re my favorite person in the world” he says, smiling sheepishly and poking his finger on the tip of her nose before putting his arm back down again.
Gina lets go of his other arm and brushes some strands of wet hair away from his forehead. She can physically feel Carlos staring at her so much that he's practically digging a hole through her.
It’s been happening quite a lot recently. Ever since spring break at the airport she and EJ have gotten even closer that before. If beforehand their connection was mostly platonic, now they’ve gotten very touchy and Gina noticed that the others have noticed, too. Especially her best friends sitting beside her.
She may or may not have finally admitted her feelings for EJ to herself first, then to Ashlyn and Carlos a couple of days ago and ever since that the staring has significantly intensified.
“I’m gonna go and wait for Biggie” Ash says, jumping to her feet and disappearing towards the exit of the theatre. A couple of seconds later Carlos follows: “Yeah, and I don’t wanna be the third wheel, so…”
Both EJ and Gina watch Carlos wave them goodbye and leave the backstage and, as soon as he’s gone, EJ sits up.
“And i…” he begins, and Gina fears that he wants to leave, too. But then he turns around, drapes his legs over Gina’s and rests his head on her shoulder. “And I might as well get comfortable.”
A smile warms up Gina’s face and she wraps him in her arms, sliding her fingers through his hair and stroking it lightly to help him relax.
“Coach Norton really kicked you ass, didn’t he?” she jokes.
He nods, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her even closer.
“I’m feeling pain in muscles I didn’t even know I had” he complains, resting his forehead in the crook between Gina’s neck and shoulder.
“Oh, poor thing” she says, brushing her cheek against his hair. “I will convince Miss Jenn to not rehearse ‘Gaston’ and ‘The Mob Song’ today” she adds.
“You’re truly the best” he replies softly.
She smiles and keeps stroking his hair as she starts absentmindedly humming ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It dawned on her that she might like EJ when he gave her that granola bar, back at the airport. And it might seem stupid to anybody else – granola bars cost, like, a dollar – but it’s not about the object per se. He knew what she liked and was probably craving, and he brought it to her. It wasn’t a grand gesture, it was a sweet gesture, the sweet gesture that she needed. In fact, it was exactly the sign that she needed. That granola bar made her realize that she was falling for EJ and she had been for some time already, she just didn’t know it yet.
And now she’s just waiting to find the guts to say it out loud to him.
“Hello thespians! Gather up, we have quite a lot of work to do!”
Miss Jenn’s high-pithed voice coming from the theatre distracts her from her thoughts. She stops her hand that’s still cuddling the exhausted boy laying with her and he grunts as a response.
Gina giggles, but slides her arms off of EJ’s body and pushes his legs away from her, so that she can get up. She turns around and finds EJ dropped on the mat, his tired blue-green eyes half open and staring at her.
“Please, let me stay here. Forever” he mumbles. “Correction, you should stay here with me forever.”
Gina’s stomach flutters at hearing his words. In another occasion, she wouldn’t hesitate to go back to cuddling with EJ for an indefinite amount of time, but Miss Jenn is waiting for them and she really doesn’t want to test her patience.
She reaches out to him with both her hands, offering him help to get up.
“C’mon. If you get up now and promise to dry your hair before leaving school, I’ll buy you a Chocolate Cookie Crumble Frappuccino after rehearsal” she suggests.
He pretends to stop and evaluate the offer, but Gina knows he’s already decided. She knows him well enough to be sure that EJ Caswell would do literally anything with the promise of a Chocolate Cookie Crumble Frappuccino. And indeed, he takes her hands and gets up.
“Deal” he agrees.
She turns around and pulls his arms over his shoulders, dragging him behind her as they walk together out of the backstage. His persistent scent invades her nostrils and she breathes it in.
Maybe she’ll tell him over Frappuccinos after rehearsal, she thinks with a smirk.