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Gina and EJ were hanging out on the couch at Ashlyn’s house, a regular occurrence now that they’d finally admitted their feelings for each other. They’d been on a couple of dates but were happy taking it slow for now. Gina had never had a boyfriend before and EJ didn’t exactly have a lot of luck in the romance department. Slow as they were taking things, they had no problem spending a Saturday afternoon curled up under a blanket with a random Netflix romcom playing on the TV that neither teen was really paying attention to.
Gina couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so comfortable. Ashlyn’s house was really starting to feel like her own but sitting there, wrapped up in EJ, she truly felt at home.
“Hi guys!” The front door opened at Ashlyn came through, carrying several bags which she promptly dumped at the front door.
“Hey, Ash,” EJ replied. He pulled away slightly from Gina, but not by much. Neither of them were embarrassed around their friends and Ashlyn, despite some light teasing, would never judge them.
“What’s in all the bags?” Gina asked, smiling as the other girl came into the room.
“Party stuff for Friday,” Ashlyn said, leaning against the couch. “I’m sure I mentioned it. Big Red’s birthday.”
“Yeah, of course,” Gina said, “Do you want a hand with it?”
“If you don’t mind,” Ashlyn nodded between the two. “Wouldn’t want to interrupt.”
“Nonsense,” Gina scoffed, getting up from the couch. EJ whined and Gina laughed and shushed him. “I’ll only be a sec. I’ll bring back some more snacks.”
That seemed to satisfy EJ for now and he paused the movie as Gina moved away from him, pulling out his phone to pass the time.
Gina helped Ashlyn with the bags at the front door and lugged them through to the kitchen.
“Jeez, Ash, did you buy the entire store?”
Ashlyn laughed. “Just Biggie’s favourite foods and drink. Some decorations. Party hats. Confetti poppers. Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard. I just want to make it special. He’s never had a surprise party before.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Gina said, grinning at her best friend.
Ashlyn grinned back, before her smile fell and her face grew a bit too serious. “Hey, we’ve not really had a chance to talk after the disastrous sleepover.”
Gina gave the other girl a confused look. “What is there to talk about?”
“For one, my big mouth,” Ashlyn said, with her usual self-deprecating humour. “I should have never brought up the chocolates in front of Nini.”
Gina rolled her eyes. “Don’t even worry about it, Ash. I explained that it wasn’t Ricky who sent me the chocolates. It’s not a big deal.”
“Still,” Ashlyn said guiltily, her mouth pulling down at the corners. “I shouldn’t have announced that you had a crush on Ricky. Especially with Nini there.”
Gina held her arms out to the other girl, and Ashlyn gratefully stepped into them. “Water under the bridge, Ash.”
They squeezed each other tightly before letting go, laughing off the conversation before putting away the party items and stashing the food and drink into the back of the fridge so the rest of the family would know not to touch it.
Gina stepped back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a wide grin. Seeing EJ frowning at his phone made her pause but she didn’t think much of it. She went to sit down next to the boy, placing the bowl on the coffee table in front of them. EJ’s head snapped up, seemingly just noticing that she was back in the room. Just as Gina had sat down, EJ stood up.
Gina looked up at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” EJ didn’t look fine. He looked tense, fidgeting and avoiding making eye contact with her.
Gina stood up, so that she was directly in front of him. EJ still did not look at her.
“What’s wrong—?”
“Your mom called—“
They spoke at the same time, both giving an involuntary awkward chuckle when they stopped.
EJ was the first to speak next. “Your mom called,” he repeated. “When you were with Ash. I didn’t answer, but you probably want to give her a call back. And I should go. Home, I mean. I have a lot of homework.”
Gina frowned at this. EJ probably did have a lot of homework, he was an AP student balancing being captain of the school’s water polo team and one of the leads in the musical. Usually, Ashlyn, Gina and EJ would all do their homework around the Caswell’s kitchen table after school. They did the very same thing yesterday as soon as they got done with rehearsals, and Gina knew EJ had finished his before the girls, because he was so endearingly boastful about it.
Gina wanted to call him out on this, but didn’t want to be overbearing. If EJ was dealing with something, she knew he would tell her eventually. Plus, she really did want to catch up with her mom.
“Okay,” Gina agreed softly. She took EJ’s hand shyly, still unsure of how they were allowed to act around each other now. “I’ll talk to you later.”
EJ finally met her eyes, and she was sure she could see some sort of anxiety in them, although it melted away when he looked at her. His shoulders visibly slumped as he gave her a smile.
“Yeah, okay,” EJ said, matching her volume.
Standing for a moment, Gina realised that if EJ was her boyfriend, this would be the part where he would kiss her before saying goodbye. They’d not used that word yet, or even kissed, so she knew it was a long shot. At the end of the moment, EJ squeezed her hand, whispered a goodbye and left.
Gina felt somehow hollowed out, like EJ had not only left but taken some part of her with him.
—
“I thinks something’s wrong with EJ,” Gina said as soon as she reached Ashlyn’s locker.
Ashlyn looked slightly startled, turning to her as her locker door swung open. She relaxed when she saw it was just her best friend and continued to collect her books. “What’s not wrong with EJ?” Ashlyn asked jokingly.
“No, Ash, I’m serious.” Gina’s tone made Ashlyn pay attention. If her best friend was really this worried about something, she would do anything to help her figure it out.
“Okay,” Ashlyn said, closing her locker and giving Gina her full attention. “What makes you think something is wrong?”
“Well,” Gina started, taking a deep breath. “He left on Saturday in a weird mood, and he said he’d talk to me later, but he didn’t call or text that night, which, okay, isn’t that weird. But then on Sunday, we didn’t speak or text at all, but again, that’s not that strange since I have dance class and he has water polo practice. And yesterday, he barely spoke to me on the way to school, and after homeroom, I didn’t see him for the rest of the day, except for at lunch — and he didn’t even sit next to me. This morning, after our morning announcements, he rushed off and I haven’t seen him since. Am I freaking out over nothing? Please tell me I’m freaking out over nothing!”
Ashlyn stood patiently, taking in all of Gina’s concerns. After the other girl was finished, Ashlyn prompted her to take a breath. “Okay, let’s look at this logically. You guys are both super busy people with a ton of extracurriculars. It’s to be expected that you guys won’t be able to talk everyday, and that’s fine. And maybe he’s acting a bit strange, but it might be nothing. Have you tried asking him?”
Gina nodded. “He just tells me he’s fine. But I can tell he’s lying. I just don’t want to push him.”
“Probably best not to,” Ashlyn agreed. “He can get a bit defensive. Honestly, though, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Gina nodded again, trying to convince herself. Ashlyn was most likely right. EJ was probably just stressed from how much he has got going on right now. Things would go back to normal soon.
—
Things did not go back to normal.
After Gina had spoken to Ashlyn, she couldn’t help but notice exactly how much EJ was avoiding her. She gave Ashlyn a significant look when EJ didn’t sit with them that lunchtime, instead choosing to sit with his water polo teammates. Ashlyn shook her head, implying that it didn’t mean anything, but that afternoon at rehearsals, when the only free seat was next to Gina and EJ opted to sit on the floor, as far away as he could get, Ashlyn shot Gina a worried look.
By the time Friday rolled around, the girls were in agreement. Something was wrong with EJ.
Ashlyn was so busy making sure Big Red’s surprise party that night went perfectly that she didn’t really have time to help her best friend, but Gina understood. At this point, it was clear that EJ had changed his mind about them being in a relationship. Clearly, it wasn’t something he wanted to pursue.
Of course, it hurt her. Gina couldn’t think of anything that would’ve changed his mind, and she had thought things were going great. Although, she didn’t exactly have extensive experience in that department. No matter what, though, Gina still wanted EJ in her life. She didn’t want to lose the friendship they’d built together this year.
Gina was prepared to tell him that, if only EJ would stop avoiding her.
—
Big Red’s party, so far, was a success. No one had spilled the beans, and the red headed boy was taken completely by surprise as he crossed the Caswell threshold with Ashlyn, only for all of his friends to jump out, shouting birthday wishes and popping confetti everywhere. Gina even managed to not think too much about the clean up.
EJ was there, too, not so much avoiding her now but definitely keeping to himself a lot more than he usually would in such a social setting. When their eyes met across the room, he looked away first. Gina kept her eyes trained on him. As much as she was hurting, she was also annoyed. EJ had pulled away from her, and fair enough if he no longer felt the same way, but to not offer any explanation, to just leave her high and dry with no answers, was worse.
Gina was determined to hash it out. She didn’t want to put a damper on the evening, not when Ashlyn had spent so much time and effort organising the perfect party, but it seemed almost inevitable by now.
When EJ tried the bathroom that connected to the kitchen and found it locked, he headed upstairs and Gina seized the opportunity. She waited a couple of minutes before following.
The sound of the tap faucet stopped and the bathroom door unlocked. As soon as EJ stepped out, Gina grabbed his upper arm and dragged him to her room and shut the door.
“We need to talk,” Gina said firmly, standing in front of the door and crossing her arms.
EJ swallowed visibly, nodding. “Yeah, okay,” he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, something Gina knew he did when he was nervous. She would have found it endlessly endearing if she wasn’t so mad.
“Well,” Gina prompted, raising an eyebrow. “Are you going to explain why you’ve been avoiding me like I have the plague?”
EJ shifted and looked down to the floor. “Look, I just— I can’t do this anymore. Not when I know you’d rather be with someone else.”
Gina frowned. “What are you talking about?”
EJ raised his head and looked her in the eye. His eyes were harder than Gina had ever seen them. “I heard you and Ash talking,” he said. When Gina still looked confused, he continued. “Your phone starting ringing, and I saw it was your mom, so I got up to tell you, and I heard you talking about the chocolates. How you had a crush on Ricky.”
Comprehension dawned on Gina. “Oh, EJ… Had. As in, past tense. That was so long ago. It’s not a big deal, I promise.”
“It’s a big deal to me,” EJ snapped. “Everything I’ve done this year, I feel like I’ve been constantly competing with Ricky. With High School Musical, and then everything with Nini and now, to find out that the person I want more than anyone else, even she wanted Ricky first... You wanted the lead and you had to settle for his understudy.”
Gina paused, jaw slack. She’d never even considered that EJ might have been feeling like this, mostly because that was not how she saw him at all. She had never once seen him as second best to Ricky. Ricky didn’t even compare.
“Is that what you think?” Gina asked softly, taking a step towards EJ. “That I settled for you?”
EJ didn’t say anything, but his fist clenched and he averted his eyes to the floor. Gina could see this was really difficult for him.
“EJ,” Gina said, now standing directly in front of him. “Look at me.” She waited until he raised his eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “EJ, you are the best thing to ever happen to me.”
The hardness in EJ’s eyes shattered, and he looked so very vulnerable. Gina could practically feel his heart pounding against her own. “Really?” he asked, voice cracking.
His tone was so disbelieving that it broke Gina’s heart. “Of course, EJ. I have felt so happy. You make me feel safe and loved. I may have liked Ricky in the past, but I have never felt the way I do with you with anyone else.”
EJ wrapped his arms around Gina and pulled her closer, both of their eyes glistening. “I’ve never felt this way before,” EJ whispered.
Gina nodded, telling him silently that she understood. They stood in their embrace, soaking each other in.
When they finally pulled apart, EJ’s grimaced guiltily. “I’m so sorry for being such a jerk this week.”
Gina laughed, pulling his head down to kiss him on the cheek. “It’s okay. You can make it up to me.”
“I will,” EJ said seriously. “I promise.”
“You can start by saying yes,” Gina said, matter-of-factly, a teasing smile playing on her lips.
“To what?” EJ asked, frowning but copying Gina’s playful grin.
Gina braced herself, before leaning up and kissing EJ full on the lips. EJ, although taken off guard, immediately reciprocated. “To being my boyfriend,” Gina said when she had pulled back slightly.
“Yes,” EJ said against her lips. “Always yes.”