Archive of Our Own

1. words of affirmation

In hindsight, maybe starting over was the wrong choice of words to use when trying to get back to being friends with Ricky Bowen.

Forgive and forget, maybe? Or, what’s past is past? Ready to move on? A simple, let’s be friends, and leave it at that? Any combination of (what would probable make pretty bleak) greeting card platitudes would’ve been better than what she had gone with.

(On second thought, did they make greeting cards for this?)

Because a greeting card (she’s looking into when the craft barn is open so she can get to work on these) would have restarted their friendship exactly where they are now, which is a good place. She’s happy: real friends, a lead role, the sweetest guy. Adding back one of the only other guys she’s ever been happy with, friends with, would have perfected the entire thing.

But going back, starting over, leaves a lot of room for error.

Gina knows exactly how things ended when they had their first beginning, and starting over implies, rightfully so, that things are going to go that way again.

And at this point, they are.

Gina knows this is exactly how it starts. The tentative beginnings of friendship, easy conversation, accidental meetings becoming more deliberate, until touches follow suit, and then feelings too.

She spent months of her life wishing, waiting, wanting Ricky to tell her he cared about her in so many words, which is of course, a ridiculous thing to expect from someone who’s entire notoriety revolves around how he could not say he loved his girlfriend.

So starting over from the beginning?

Gina finds herself sitting on the steps outside the theater barn getting reacquainted with the wishing, waiting, and wanting of it all.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Gina looks up from where she had been counting nails in the floorboards in an attempt to keep her mind from going anywhere else, and finds her gaze in Ricky’s. So maybe, she thinks, she should go back to counting.

She settles on a small tuft of laughter, “These thoughts are worth a quarter at least.”

“All I have with me is a penny, so, guess we’ll just have to sit in silence, then,” Ricky invites himself to have a seat on the step beside her, just like he would have in the beginning, which is what she asked for, she reminds herself.

She tucks her hands nervously beneath her knees and smiles at him, shaking her head as he twists an imaginary lock on the corner of his lips with a smirk.

With a fond sigh, she starts, “I was actually—“

But she is cut off by his hand, locking an imaginary lock a centimeter from her own lips.

She’s so glad her lips are sealed shut to keep the bubble of laughter she can feel in her chest contained.

Ricky shifts on his weight after a quiet moment, his shoulder making the briefest contact with her own in the motion, rummages in his pocket and then holds his palm out to her, “Final offer.”

There’s a penny in the center of his palm.

“You’ve been waiting to do that.”

“For days.”

The giggle gets the best of her and escapes as she swats his hand and his penny away playfully, “You’re lucky I’m getting into character early today. Anna would talk for free.”

“Congratulations, by the way,” he says brightly, “Or at least, I think, congratulations, right? She’s uh, the lead?”

“And congratulations to you, for remembering that,” she jokes.

“Seriously though, you’re gonna kill it.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so.”

“You don’t even know what songs I sing.”

“Do I need to?” He shrugs, “I know you’re good at literally everything, so I don’t see why this should be any different.”

And it’s so strange, because how could he have possibly known this is exactly what she needed to hear this morning?

When she pauses a second too long, Ricky nudges the penny towards her again.

And well, they began again. That means she can tell him, right?

“Um, this morning, when we saw the cast list…” she starts, leaning back on her hands with a heavy sigh, ”Sorry this is so, so stupid.”

“Hey no, you’re looking at the president of stupid,” he smiles back, “You can tell me. I’ll steal a quarter from Carlos if I have to.”

“I just, uh, I’m in a weird place with Ashlyn right now.”

“Why’s that?”

“She keeps saying I’m Gina 1.0.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Gina laughs at that, but when she turns her head to look at him, his brows are furrowed in genuine confusion.

“Oh, uh you’re serious?”

“Last I checked, you’re just Gina,” he says, “I mean, I never asked your middle name, but I doubt it’s 1.0.”

He’s so ridiculous. For the briefest moment she doesn’t mind starting over and wishes she had thought to ask for this sooner.

“I was different, last fall. I had my eyes on one prize and one prize only. I thought anything less than that was a failure and failure was never an option for me,” Gina elaborates, a sad chuckle, “I was ambitious, you even said it.”

“Ambition’s not a bad thing.”

“It is the contingency point of Ashlyn’s friendship with me, though.”

“What? She really sees you that way?”

“It seems that way,” Gina shrugs, “I loved auditioning with her and Kourt, but this isn’t East High.”

“I have been getting just as lost here as I do in our school, though.”

He turns the chuckle on her words brighter, so she can continue, “But I’m also not who I have been the last two shows at East High. I think I’m better, and I’m sorry if that makes me sound conceited or selfish, but I do.”

He nods, “You auditioned with quite literally the exact same song as everyone else here. This has been the fairest audition we’ve ever had. You earned exactly the role you got.”

“That’s another point of contention though,” she quirks her head to the side, “Me and EJ—“

“He didn’t cast the show,” Ricky affirms, “And even if he did, you still deserved the lead.”

“It’s hard to believe anything you’re saying when I’m not even sure you know who the leads are,” she bumps her shoulder into his, deliberately this time, revels in the way he sways back into her.

“I know exactly who the leads are, you’re Anna, the queen of Ariel—“

“The little mermaid?”

“And you’re in love with the hot prince from out of town, Olaf.”

She nods, biting her lips together, “You plan on reading that script before we start rehearsals, or…”

“What are you talking about, that was 100% correct,” he says, again, completely genuinely.

“Okay, yeah, good job, Ricky,” she pats his knee closest to hers.

“Even if I got all of that wrong, and I knew none of the characters in this show, which isn’t true,” he looks at her, “What’s more important is I know you.”

Gina exhales audibly.

“You’re incredible, Gi.”

“Thank you.” She means it.

“I’m actually really glad I got a smaller role this time around, so I can just sit back, relax, and gaze in wonder as you give this camp the greatest performance its ever seen.”

“Ricky, this has been a very funny joke, seriously, but before we walk into our first rehearsal I need you to promise me you do know you’re playing Kristoff with me.”

“Of course I know I’m playing Kristoff.”

“Oh, thank god,” she says, relieved, then stands up from their perch.

“He uh, comes in with the cart of ice? Pulled by the bear with antlers?” Ricky follows suit, standing and shoving his hands in his pockets again, “Walks around for a little and then he leaves.”

And to think, she believed him for a second there.

“Why would he leave?”

“Because it’s called Frozen, Gina, duh,” he implores, “Who needs ice when they’re in the middle of a blizzard?”

“The problem is you’re partially right,” Gina shakes her head incredulously at him, “You’ve really never seen this movie?”

“Like once, when I was eight.”

“It’s one of the biggest franchises in Disney history,” she yelps, “It comes up in my recommended practically every time I open Disney+, they make sure everyone sees that movie at least three times.”

“You think I have Disney+?” He balks, “I couldn’t even afford this 25 cent conversation!”

“Oh my god.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” He laughs, “You said I was partially right!”

“Yeah, you just forgot the part where we’re in love.”

“What?”

Gina stops, a step above him where she had started to head for the doors to inside, and looks at his wide eyes, the soft pink to his cheeks.

“I mean, Anna and Kristoff, they fall in love at the end,” Gina sighs heavily, but still smiles, “You forgot that part.”

“I didn’t know that part.”

“Happy to be of service,” she swings her hands behind her back and turns to head inside, hoping he’ll follow, “I’d say I accept payment in form of pennies, but I’ll let you keep it for a very important Disney+ fund.”

“No, no, take it,” he holds out the penny as she pulls open the door, “At least one of those 25 pages of forms I filled out when I got here had to be the free Disney+ membership that comes with being a star in one of its shows.”

“You just went from background ice guy to our star in 30 seconds,” Gina ushers them inside.

“And you’ve always been a lead,” he loses all pretense of joking they had just had, to say this thoughtfully, seriously, and presses the penny into her palm, “If you ever forget it, I think I can pencil some time in between delivering ice and falling in love to remind you of it.”

Her stomach flips in on itself as he walks away, another mark of their earlier iteration of friendship resurfacing.

If there’s one good thing about starting over, its that this time Gina knows what she’s looking for. Ricky has said, in his own roundabout way, what she’s been wishing and waiting and wanting to hear since the beginning.

There’s nothing left for her to do but pocket his penny and get ready to fall in love with him again.

(Do they make greeting cards for that too? Good luck falling in love when on stage and staying out of it when off? She could use the encouragement.)

2.  acts of service

It’s a nice epiphany to have, to realize just a day into starting over with Ricky Bowen that you can have the upper hand now, that you can look for signs that you didn’t know to look for the first time. He says he cares without saying it, she can accept that without saying anything either. It’s an interesting arrangement, and not one she had expected to have when she got here, but as far as epiphanies go she can’t really complain.

It’s unfortunate that the Camp Shallow Lake rehearsal schedule leaves little time for acting on epiphanies.

“I think I’m gonna need a vacation after this vacation.”

“I feel lied to,” Ashlyn says from the top bunk across from Gina’s, “I always heard this camp was fun.”

“It’s fun, it’s just—“

“A lot?”

“A lot.”

“We’ve been in rehearsals so much lately, I’ve started speaking in sheet music.”

“I dreamt about the Fixer Upper choreography, Ash,” Gina flops back onto her pillow with a heaving sigh, “30 more minutes of sleep and it was gonna become a nightmare.”

“Yeah, I was starting to get worried.”

“About my dreams?” Gina chuckles.

“About you waking up in time for rehearsal,” Ashlyn hops down from her top bunk as she continues, “I know we just talked about how exhausting it is, but I didn’t want you missing it.”

“Oh don’t worry, I have like, an hour still, until rehearsal today,” Gina glares at the small clock on their cabin wall, then decides to relish in the peace and comfort of her bed for just a few more minutes of peace before the day kicks into high gear, “Late start for once, I don’t know how we got so lucky.”

“Really? Kourtney left a half hour ago,” Ashlyn answers, “I figured you’d be right behind her.”

“Why would I—“ Gina starts, and then chokes omg her own words, sits up suddenly and alert, “Hold on, what day is it?”

“Thursday?”

“No, no, no,” Gina throws her covers off, scrambles down the small ladder, almost tripping off the last rung, “It’s coronation day!”

“Have you started speaking in sheet music lyrics too?”

“We’re blocking the coronation day scene today,” Gina corrects her bunkmate, zig-zagging through the room to throw on the first set of clothes she can find, paying no mind to what matches, what’s not wrinkled, what isn’t still s’more stained. “I thought it was Friday, full cast rehearsal at 10.”

“No yeah, it’s definitely Thursday, rehearsal for leads and townspeople ensemble at 9.”

“You knew?”

“You didn’t?”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?!” Gina screeches, skidding on carpet as she hops to put shoes on haphazardly.

“I didn’t know I had to,” Ashlyn sits still in her bed, “Gina 1.0 doesn’t need help from her friends.”

“Can we not do this right now, Ash?” Gina’s voice is full of exasperation, and even more annoyance than Ashlyn’s own tone, “I’m clearly having a rough morning, and I really don’t need a lecture…”

“I thought this was what you wanted!”

“I wanted my best friend to be happy I get to be a Disney princess for two weeks the same way I was happy for her.”

Ashlyn doesn’t respond as Gina frantically looks for her script, for a pencil, for her dance shoes.

“In the time we’ve been friends, Ash, I have done nothing but support you. I played a feather duster who got her only shining moment, a dance break in Be Our Guest, cut in favor of a candlestick, and quite literally split my HSM role down the middle for circumstances completely outside my control.”

“Gina—“

“You had the script changed for you to have a completely new solo as the drama teacher and then played a princess for not two weeks, but like, four months,” Gina continues, “A role you got for auditioning with a song where you gave me and Kourtney only 2 lines compared to your full verse. So we can talk about Gina 1.0, who has already made amends with Nini, the only person ever she messed with, when you wanna talk about snippy Ashlyn 2.0, who it seems has also joined us at camp.”

Gina grabs her script, having finally found it, and without even checking her reflection in the mirror, runs out of the bunk.

She makes it several frantic, running steps before she spots Kourtney, who is leaning on the railing outside the barn, head scanning left and right. She jumps up when she spots Gina, “Oh my god, I thought you were dead.”

“That was your first thought?”

“I hit you too hard with ice or something yesterday?”

“Fake ice?”

“Can you just accept my worry and get your beautiful, alive body over here?” Kourtney sighs heavily against the railing, as Gina makes her way across the lawn, “I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” Gina huffs, out of breath from her sprint, “You didn’t do anything, I lost track of the days, Ashlyn woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Not your fault.”

“You sure you’re not dead?”

“You can check my pulse after rehearsal,” Gina laughs, “Get in there, your majesty, I’ll catch up,” Gina waves her off.

The door is just shutting behind Kourtney when Gina makes it to the steps of the barn, at what she is sure is exactly 9:00 sharp. She echoes Kourtney’s previous motion and takes a moment to sigh loudly, one hand on the railing, head tucked and looking at her favorite nails in the wooden slats to count and her clearly untied sneakers.

She hears the door swing open without seeing it, and still staring at her shoelaces hoping telepathy will tie them so she doesn’t have to bend down, she says, “Kourtney, I promise I’m alive, I just quit track in the fifth grade and am being swiftly humbled by my sprint here.”

“A lot to unpack there.”

She looks up in a sharp motion when the voice does not belong to Kourtney at all, but instead, to Ricky.

“Hey,” is all she can get out breathily.

“Hey, very glad you’re alive,” he nods, “Didn’t know you might not be?”

“Neither did I?” She finds a breath to laugh, “Until I overslept, snapped at Ashlyn, and ran the six minutes it takes to walk here here in 30 seconds and then I thought, you know what? Maybe the end is near.”

“I have no pennies,” he starts warily, stepping forward to meet her on the step, “But I do have…”

He brings one hand out from behind his back with a flourish and a boyish grin.

“A blueberry muffin?” She smiles and takes it from him.

When they had started over that morning of auditions, they sat in awkward yet companionable quiet at a breakfast table, and attempted their first round of friendship small talk between bites of burnt toast (Ricky) and a blueberry muffin (Gina).

They’d bumped into each other there a few more mornings since, but she didn’t think he paid enough attention to the fact that she liked (er, trusted marginally more than any other food they served here) the blueberry muffins, and had one every morning. She is even less sure how he had known she’d have to skip breakfast this morning, and had the foresight to take one and bring it here for her.

“You always get to the dining hall before me, and when you weren’t there this morning I just figured…” he shrugs, looks like he’d like to start counting nails in the floorboards too, “Figured you might need it.”

“I absolutely did, thank you,” she says, and she means it. No act of kindness is too small for her on this abysmal morning, and this is much bigger than a small thing to begin with.

“So Ashlyn?”

“Ashlyn,” she nods.

“Talk about our feelings or eat them?”

A genuine laugh escapes her lips, “I’m starving so I’m a little biased but,” she shrugs, “We can talk later?”

“Yeah, yeah, totally, I uh,” Ricky nods, “I’d really like that.”

“Cool,” she starts, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you out here, make us both late for rehearsal.”

“Oh, they don’t need us yet. They’re trying to get Kourtney’s gloves to fit right so she doesn’t drop that sword with no point and the circular bottle.”

“You’re lucky I know exactly what you’re talking about,” she laughs, and goes to take a step towards him and head inside, but gets caught on a very untied shoelace, and trips forward in the motion.

Ricky catches her, a hand gripped on the top of her forearm, their chests almost flush against each other.

“Sorry, I don’t know what happened, I was in such a rush—“

“No worries,” he shrugs it off, and Gina honest to god blinks in rapid succession to make sure she really is awake when she watches Ricky crouch down on one knee to, yeah, tie her shoe.

“Oh, Ricky, you don’t have to—“

“I couldn’t go in there and face my queen after letting her sister trip on a shoelace and die.”

“Look at you!” she laughs, “Making accurate character connections.”

“Well with no princesses to talk to in the dining hall this morning, I was forced to read my script.”

“You poor thing, doing work for the role you auditioned for!”

“Shut up,” he grins as he stands up, shoes now tied tightly.

“That’s no way to talk to royalty,” she follows him to the barn door entrance.

“What are you gonna do to me, princess?” He mocks, not unlike a toddler with his tongue out, as the door shuts behind them, “Kourtney’s the important one.”

“Not forever,” Gina points out, finding their way to seats on the side of the room, where Kourtney is in fact, trying on gloves to hold her coronation props. She smiles at Ricky as they sit, “You ever seen Frozen 2?”

Ricky plops into his seat, and stares at her, “Gi, I need you to like, really think about the words that just came out of your mouth, and try again.”

She is absolutely giddy as she starts to peel the wraper off her muffin, and says, “You wanna watch Frozen 2 for the first time when we get home and have wifi to do it?”

“Much better.”

Much better indeed, Gina thinks, her terrible morning brighter and sweeter within the span of a few minutes, thanks to bad camp pastries and another little way of knowing Ricky cares about her.

3. gift giving

The problem with starting over is that it only works in theory. They can’t actually erase everything that came before this moment, no matter how hard Gina tries to will it into existence.

History is doomed to repeat itself, or at least, come up in conversation.

“Hey,” she skips up the steps to the rehearsal barn when she spots Ricky crouched by the door.

In lieu of a hello, Ricky presses a finger to his lips to signal quiet, and Gina instinctively lowers her voice to a whisper as she crosses the rest of the way to meet him.

“Do I wanna ask what you’re doing?”

“Carlos told me he was working with EJ and Val to create some drama for the documentary,” Ricky whispers back, shifting his weight on the balls of his feet, “But he wouldn’t give me any hints about what they’re planning.”

“Rude.”

“I know right!”

“As intrigued as I also am right now, don’t we have somewhere to be?” Gina whispers, lightly, kicking at his leg and glancing at the door, “Costume fittings?”

“Yeah, I was just there,” he nods, “Maddox threw me out after the fourth time I knocked over her box of thread.”

Gina shakes her head with a laugh, and crouches down to meet him.

“I’m sorry, princess, I thought you had somewhere to be?”

“Have I mentioned I hate that nickname yet today?”

“It’s not a nickname, it’s a memory tactic,” Ricky grins, tapping a finger to his temple, “So I don’t forget who you’re playing.”

“You could call me Anna.”

“Not when I can annoy you with princess.”

“I can go kill time before my costume fitting someplace else…” she makes a show of rising slowly, just for Ricky to pull her down by the sleeve abruptly.

“Stay,” he pleads, like she was ever considering not.

“Catch me up on the drama I missed,” she settles into her spot across from him, their knees touching and an ear each to the barn door.

“So far its been nothing great, something about having a dancer fake an injury? And I think they want Ashlyn to play the harp, which I didn’t know she could do, she’s like crazy hidden talented.”

Gina could melt through the floorboards she used to count.

“LARP, they want her to LARP,” Gina corrects softly, but it doesn’t unfurrow Ricky’s confused brow.

“Is that like,” Ricky tries, “A smaller harp? Because I don’t even know where they would fit one of those in the barn.”

She lets it go, too endeared to try again.

“I can’t hear them that well,” Gina whispers straining to catch their voice from inside the barn.

“It’s better over here, c’mere,” Ricky ushers her over, wrapping a hand gingerly around her wrist and pulling her forward.

She loses her balance with the motion, but catches herself with a hand on his knee and the other almost overlapped with his on the door, but he is right, she can hear better from over here. That is, she probably could hear them better from over here if the rapid beating of her heart wasn’t so loud at the moment.

“Carlos sounds… angry?”

“Passionate,” Ricky corrects, as they continue to try to listen in.

“I just don’t think a side plot on Crash’s destruction of property is going to sit right with the theater crowd,” they hear Carlos huff.

“Exactly, we could bring in the athletes!” EJ argues back, “I could talk about water polo!”

“I forgot EJ played water polo,” Ricky hums.

“How lucky of you,” Gina drawls, which makes Ricky laugh, “I’ve started tuning him out when he brings it up.”

“Really, Gina? You wouldn’t love to hear about how EJ manages the work-life balance of being our real life Troy Bolton?”

“Would you watch this show?” Gina whispers to Ricky.

“I can’t, no Disney+, remember…”

“Hypothetically,” Gina rolls her eyes.

“Depends on whether or not you want Frozen: The Musical: The Series both in your Recently Viewed and on your conscience.”

“You’re stealing my password?”

“Who said anything about stealing?” Ricky beams boyishly, “Are we not watching it together?”

“Well with the ways these plot lines seem to be going I haven’t made my mind up about watching yet anyway,” Gina answers, “But I guess, if you’re gonna be around, I could be swayed.”

“Is my presence swaying you for or against?”

“Could go either way,” she shrugs, “I do anticipate you chewing with your mouth full of movie snacks, which is a big factor against.”

“You know, no one is forcing you to have breakfast with me in the mornings,” he says, because Gina yelling at him to not talk with a mouthful of toast is as constant as their early morning meet-ups now.

“I know,” she nods, clears her throat softly and leans back towards the door, “How long is this drama club meeting supposed to last?”

“Drama club, that’s funny, Gi,” Ricky’s gaze on her is so intent the floorboards are not enough, and she gets aquatinted with the door hinges instead, “Uh, I don’t know? As soon as they come up with something good?”

“So until dinner at least?”

He laughs at her again, and it is not a new feeling, sure, but one she hasn’t felt in a while. She lets herself marvel in it, chances a peek away from the door and into his eyes while she does it, bumps their knees together. This is what it felt like being friends with Ricky Bowen the first time, she reminds herself. Though looking at it from this perspective, she’s not sure the word she’d always attributed to their friendship was ever correct.

It’s a thought for another time, really, when Val finally says something interesting.

“What about a showmance?” they hear her perk up to say, “Statistically, it’s the most likely to get and keep people invested in our show for eight weeks.”

“She’s got a point,” Carlos says, “But almost everyone I know here is already in a committed relationship.”

“Really?”

“Kourtney, Ashlyn, and I all have boyfriends at home,” Carlos replies, “I could talk about Seb for hours, but really, the most drama he provides is a missing cow every once in a while and I don’t think I’m willing to have my Disney legacy be talking snowman and farmer boyfriend at the same time.”

“Well, does anyone have a boyfriend here?” Val asks, then cuts herself off, “Oh sorry, EJ, I forgot for a second.”

“EJ has a boyfriend?” Ricky whispers to Gina and she throws a hand over her giggling mouth.

“That wasn’t funny.”

“You’re laughing.”

“Me and Gina are off limits,” they go back to hear EJ say.

Which is weird, Gina thinks. She knows he’s been stressed about balancing the show and their relationship, but shouldn’t he be jumping at the chance to combine those two?

“So, no free Disney+ membership for you?” Ricky offers a joke, and it does make her laugh again.

“Now you’ll never know what happens to Kristoff when he gets lost in the woods.”

“He probably just sings,” Ricky says off-handedly, but when Gina stares at him, he balks, “No way, I was right?”

“Shh,” she shushes him, “I’m trying to listen for my romantic replacement.”

“Don’t laugh, but… Jet is available,” Carlos offers, and there’s a long beat of silence. And then all five of them laugh.

“I mean, he’d be great, if you wanna be the one to ask him to volunteer for it, Carlos.”

“Anyone else?” Val tries again, “What about Ricky?”

The thought of Ricky in a showmance makes her stomach turn in a way exactly like in the beginning of their relationship last fall.

“No,” EJ jumps to say almost immediately, and doesn’t elaborate.

But Val pushes on, “Look we’re not setting out to be cupid here, right? Who says the relationship has to be real?”

“A fake showmance?”

“It would honestly be less messy than trying to pry into a real relationship,” Val says, “We’d have control over all the variables, we could inform the participants, analyze all the results before we picked which ones made it to film—“

“Theater camp, Val, not psych class,” EJ chuckles.

“No, no this is a great idea,” Carlos agrees, “We could tie it directly into the show. A love triangle!”

“Yes!”

“No, no one likes love triangles,” EJ sighs.

“Frozen has one of the most iconic love triangles,” Carlos says, “We could have a couple together the entire season, and then plot twist to the other guy in the last episode or two.”

“Yes! The classic bait and switch,” Val seems as excited by this as Carlos, and continues, “Who are our players?”

“I’m always down for a drama moment,” Carlos offers himself, which makes Gina and Ricky chuckle, “But I’m open to other options.”

“What if we just stuck to the actual characters?” Val starts, “Give them Hans/Anna/Kristoff on and off the stage.”

Carlos barks out a laugh, “I’m sorry, you’re suggesting a love triangle between Ricky, Gina, and… Jet?”

Ricky wiggles his brows funnily at Gina, “Oh no, I’m never gonna make it to our movie night now if Jet is my competition.”

“Shut up,” Gina kicks his foot, and tries hiding her furious flush, “At least you’re self aware enough to know it would be hard to choose you.”

“Ouch,” he clutched a hand dramatically to his heart, “I can win you over with one acoustic guitar song, don’t forget.”

How could she forget? She can’t forget anything that happened with them before, no matter how hard she was hoping she could.

She steels her emotions and tries to focus back in on their easy banter with, “That again, would require you to know any Frozen songs to sing for me.”

“How you underestimate me, princess.”

She turns away from him with a smirk at the nickname again, and tunes back into the conversation inside.

“Okay, if we can’t get Jet, which, I think Ricky could convince him,” Val says, and Gina laughs at the way Ricky nods like, yeah, he can, “Why don’t we use you, EJ?”

Which, is a catastrophically bad idea, but Gina doesn’t wanna be the one to say it.

“Me?” is all EJ responds, before Val can excitedly chatter again.

“Yes, think about it, what makes more sense than our two romantic leads and their director!” she says, “That’s a triangle that’s getting everyone to tune in, I know it.”

“She’s got a point…” Carlos drawls.

“You know, we’ve gotten over the cast list thing. You don’t have to kiss up and agree with everything she says, Carlos,” EJ yells.

“But everything she’s saying is right!” Carlos yells back, “It’s hands down the best option we have.”

It’s a terrible option.

Ricky’s not joking the way he was at the prospect of the Jet love triangle, but he does offer her a soft and sincere, “Want me to go in there? Tell them no?”

“You don’t have to—“

“I mean, they are talking about us, we should get to have an opinion on this, right?”

“Do you?” she whispers, not moving from their perch, “Have an opinion on it?”

“Yeah,” is all he answers.

She nods him on.

“I don’t wanna cause any problems,” Ricky elaborates, “If the world wants to see me lose to EJ Caswell, I’d do it for the show.”

She almost asks him why he’s so sure he’d lose this round.

“But more importantly, I don’t wanna cause any problems with you,” he says, “Say the word and I will drag Carlos out of that room and throw him into the pool before he can say one more word about us.”

“You’d do that?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“I guess I could—“ Gina starts softly, “If that’s really what the show needed…”

Their attention is brought back to inside the barn when Val raises her voice, “I know you said it’s been a long year, EJ, but at least I’m not suggesting we bring Nini back in.”

It gets Ricky to laugh, and Gina is thankful for the way the tension dissolves with it.

Carlos laughs too, “I’m sorry, I’m just now realizing the four of you have a type.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t have 22 episodes to get into it, Val,” Carlos begins, “but the year-long recap is that Ricky dated Nini, then EJ dated Nini, and while that was happening Ricky became friends with Gina, who started dating EJ after Ricky and Nini broke up a second time.”

Well, that’s one way to put it.

Gina can practically hear Val’s head spin, “Love square?”

“Like I said, a type,” Carlos quips, “They just date in the square.”

“Not all of them,” Val corrects, “I mean, if I followed that very long run on sentence, Carlos, I don’t think Ricky and Gina ever had anything happen.”

“Maybe, we should go in there,” Ricky starts to stand, and Gina almost follows suit, but what Carlos says next roots her in her spot.

“There were a few things I had to leave out of the recap, but really, we’re all friends here,” Carlos says, “I think we’d all be willing to look past some chocolates for the sake of—“

“Chocolates?” Gina echoes, the words sounding hollow on her tongue.

She tracks her gaze up to Ricky.

“You know, I think Maddox is calling me back, try on those pants again—“

“What does Carlos know about the chocolates?” she repeats.

“I thought we said no chocolates this summer?” Ricky laughs nervously, tries backing away a step, but Gina follows him, doesn’t let him get far.

“Rules are off,” she says firmly, “What did you tell him?”

“How do you know Seb didn’t tell him about it?” Ricky flails to defend, “I heard it was a big topic of conversation at the girls sleepover.”

“Because the way he just said that to Val and EJ implies he knows more than what I told Seb,” Gina says, “And I know you two are best friends now, so tell me Ricky. What does Carlos know about the chocolates?”

“I don’t know why this has to be such a big deal,” Ricky sighs, “Why don’t we just go to our costume fitting!”

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” Gina agrees, “But if Carlos is using it as leverage to get us to fall in love in a documentary and get EJ to go along with it, it kinda sounds like a big deal!”

Ricky huffs and tries to walk away again, but history. She doesn’t know how she can really start over without getting rid of this, this horrible nagging feeling that she hadn’t been wrong to make a big deal out of this in February.

So she doesn’t let him get away, she grabs his wrist and pulls him back to her.

“Look, I meant what I said, about starting over,” Gina starts softly, “I won’t be mad, I just wanna know what’s going on.”

He looks down at the hand on his wrist.

“And don’t make a joke about buying me a Hershey bar, or something.”

He lets out a hollow laugh, “Ha, well, you see, I could, but I don’t even know what kind of chocolates were in that box I bought you—“

She drops his hand.

He did? He bought her the chocolates?

“You bought me those chocolates,” she whispers, far enough away from the barn doors now to not need to, but dropping her voice anyway.

“I delivered the chocolates,” he corrects, like word choice matters in the slightest to her right now.

“What’s the difference?” her voice impossibly and impressively calm.

“Big difference!” he all but yelps, “They really were from your mom.”

“You just said—“

“Yeah well, technically, I bought them, and put them at your door, but they weren’t supposed to be from me, really.”

“I don’t get— How—“ her mind is spinning a mile a minute, and she tries to focus on one thing at a time, “What did you tell Carlos?”

“I was floating the idea of getting you an opening night gift,” he says, “So Carlos asked what I’ve gotten you in the past, to help us come up with a good idea.”

“You bought me chocolates,” she thinks maybe if she keeps saying it, the concept will stick.

“They’d melt immediately out here, so back to the drawing board,” he says, like that’s the point of the whole thing.

Maybe when she gets back to her bunk she can unpack the idea that Ricky was seriously considering getting her a gift for opening night, which she knows is his birthday. That he cared about it being such a good gift that he went to his friend for advice.

But right now her brain is full of too much noise to do that, and it all sounds like “Ricky bought me the chocolates”.

“It still doesn’t make any sense, Ricky,” Gina shakes her head, hoping to shake some of the static noise out, “How could my Valentine’s day gift be from my mom and—“

“I don’t really know if I should be telling you this stuff now, Gi—“

“Is there really a difference in telling me about something you did while you had a girlfriend, now that I have a boyfriend?”

“I hate seeing you upset, Gina!”

His sudden outburst stuns her into silence.

“It’s like I can feel how upset you are myself, and I hate it. I had to do something,” he elaborates, “I know exactly what it’s like to live through a holiday with your mom in another part of the country. How you check your phone every three seconds waiting for her to call and irrationally fearing she’ll forget to.”

Gina nods, remembering that exact feeling on Valentine’s Day.

“My mom knows Salt Lake. If she wanted to send me a gift, she knew all the places she could do it, have something delivered to me,” Ricky continues, “But you and your mom? I just, I didn’t know if she’d know how to get that bear you were waiting for to you.”

“I’m sorry, if I’m following this correctly that means you talked to my mom—“

“You guys ordered pizza from Slices once, Big Red got me her number.”

“Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

“I had really, really good intentions, Gi,” he implores, “It was supposed to make you feel better.”

“It made me feel embarrassed,” she insists.

“You were never supposed to think they were from me.

“What was I supposed to think? You texted me 30 seconds after I found them on my porch!”

“I forgot about the time zones, with your mom,” Ricky shakes his head, “Which I’m guessing is why she texted an hour later than I told her your stuff would be delivered.”

“That doesn’t explain why you texted me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to thank my friend for giving me good advice.”

“Did you have to thank me the second I received a romantic gesture on my doorstep? With no note attached?”

“You’d recognize my handwriting!” Ricky yells defensively, “And why did it have to be romantic?”

“It was chocolates on Valentine’s day, Ricky! What was I supposed to assume?”

“That they were from your mom!”

“She never gets me chocolates—“

“Well, my sincerest apologies, Gina, the Ricky Bowen Delivery Service was out of stuffed bears that day!”

“Why are you getting mad at me?”

“Because you promised you wouldn’t get mad at me first!”

“That was before I heard you try to play off one of the oldest romantic tricks in the book as a nice gesture of our friendship!”

“What friendship, Gina?”

She takes a step back.

“We are not having this conversation right now,” she warns, her voice low, “My boyfriend is right there.”

“I did a million things last fall, Gina, with the actual intention of them being romantic, and you never said anything,” Ricky scoffs, “So excuse me for thinking maybe this is just what we do, pretend all our romantic feelings for each other are platonic.”

“That’s ridiculous—“

“I’ve gotten used to the feeling again, ever since I showed up here!”

“I never asked you to do that!”

“You asked me to start over,” he counters, “And I meant it too, there is not a single thing I would do to cause problems between you and EJ. That’s why I didn’t wanna bring this up—“

“Why didn’t you just tell me, that day?” Gina says, “There would be no problem if you had just told me you were trying to help me and my mom.”

“I was so confused, Gina.”

“You think I wasn’t?”

“You just seem to always have everything worked out.”

“Not with you,” she returns to a whisper, having gravitated towards each other without meaning to during their fight, a breath away from him now, “I can’t figure this out.”

He breathes a heavy sigh, his eyes scan over every inch of her face.

“I knew it sounded romantic.”

“I knew you weren’t that stupid.”

“Half the reason I went home immediately and took your advice, sang Nini that song, was so that I could try to make that the most romantic thing I did on Valentine’s day,” Ricky explains, “I had a girlfriend.”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“I know,” he laughs lightly, looks down at his feet to say, “I screw up the timing with all the Porter women.”

And somehow, Gina laughs too.

“I think we should—“

“Yeah,” Ricky breathes, and he takes a step back. “I’m sorry.”

She wants to tell him he shouldn’t be, but she’s still so confused.

“I can go in there and tell them—“

“Hey, if that’s what they think is best for the show, my feelings are completely out of it,” Ricky says, another step back, “I can do it. I’ve been told I’m an okay actor.”

“Who said that?”

“Definitely not my friend Gina,” he smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, “She thinks I’m terrible at everything.”

“Not everything.”

“Just knowing the plots of every Disney movie, picking nicknames, and gift giving.”

She sighs, “You could have told me.”

“I know that now,” Ricky shrugs, “I guess I didn’t want to.”

“What?”

“It was nice to pretend I did something right for once,” he says, “Fixed your Valentine’s Day.”

“Was that it?”

“Was what it?”

“Was that the only thing it was nice to pretend?”

Was it nice, for a minute, to pretend things were romantic?

Could they maybe try it again?

“No, that wasn’t the only thing,” he says, “But you’re right, we can’t have that conversation anymore.”

“Maybe we should—“

“I’ll tell Maddox you’re on your way?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she nods, once he cuts her off, and she should thank him for doing that, but her vocabulary is limited in the wake of this hurricane of revelations, “I’ll uh, see you there, Kristoff.”

“Work on your nickname game, princess.“

Ricky has left the costume fitting area before she arrives, and she doesn’t even know how to start unloading it all on Maddox, so she keeps it all inside. She gives herself the briefest moment to pretend too, and really likes the way both the Ricky before camp and the Ricky now would jump through hoops just to get her a little gift, make her feel better about it all.

4. physical touch

If Gina thought she could tell Ricky cared about her with his kind actions and sweet words, the chocolates debacle is like spelling it out in the clearest writing.

It is such an odd revelation to have a few months too late, and without a single person to discuss it with.

Normally, she’d go to Ashlyn, because they’ve discussed Ricky before. But even without the weird tension around them since Gina 1.0 got the lead and Ashlyn got a role in the ensemble, Gina is sure Ashlyn’s got relative bias.

Bias takes Carlos out of the running too, his friendship with Ricky coming out of left field but being stronger than ever. Kourtney probably has a little bias too, for the guy who broke her best friends heart more than once.

She’s come to really enjoy Val’s company, but divulging her romantic pursuits is asking for a full psych eval over a campfire s’more, Jet only speaks to Ricky, and she had only just gotten Maddox to warm up to her. Gina’s never been great at friendship, bouncing around schools too quickly to ever get the hang of it, but she doesn’t need to read the best friend guidebook to know you probably don’t go from small talk to ‘help, I think me and my best friend are in love with each other but can’t do anything about it’ overnight.

So she keeps it to herself. Nothing pairs with a Camp Shallow Lake blueberry muffin in the morning like a dramatic inner monologue.

If she seems more quiet and withdrawn today, which she feels, no one mentions it. She walks from her bunk with Ashlyn, Maddox and Kourtney without having to say a word.

“I am so excited to show you guys the dresses I finished last night!” Maddox squeals.

“I can’t believe you’ve kept them hidden from us for so long,” Kourtney complains, “And how when I wanted to help, it was all, let’s not fix what’s not broken, but when Ashlyn asks—“

“I just have more free time than you, your majesty,” Ashlyn defends, with a laugh, “Besides, Maddox is right, it’s going to be totally worth the surprise.”

“Don’t tell anyone, Gina, but yours is my favorite,” Maddox leans back and bumps Gina’s shoulder playfully. Gina reminds herself to respond with a small smile, “Definitely going to do the job and have Ricky making heart eyes…”

“I’m sorry, I know you’re new to the East High inner circle, but you can’t possibly still be mixing up EJ and Ricky,” Ashlyn laughs again.

“No, no, I mean in the show,” Maddox says, “You know Ricky, or Kristoff, only has eyes for Gina, even when the beautiful dress I put together is covered in snow.”

“The power of true love!” Kourtney joins in to laugh, and skips up the stairs to the barn with Ashlyn at her side.

Maddox holds the door open in front of Gina, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things uncomfortable, I know you and EJ—“

“No, of course,” Gina smiles, “I knew what you meant.” And even if she didn’t, she wasn’t entirely wrong.

“I uh, I heard Val mention something about blocking some dance scenes with you at the start of rehearsals today,” Maddox continues as they step inside, “So I was thinking Kourtney could try her stuff on first, and I could come and get you after?”

“Sounds good,” Gina nods, but it comes out more strained than she had meant, “Looking forward to it!”

Maddox bites her lips together awkwardly, and runs out of Gina’s view. If Gina were less mentally exhausted she’d run and get her to apologize, explain again her mood had nothing to do with Maddox.

But she is exhausted. Her mind ran marathons all night.

She walks across the large space in the center of the barn, hoping to catch Val and ask her what she should start warming up for. And if there’s one silver lining in the mess that has been made in the past 24 hours, it’s that EJ has been his usual, busier than ever self.

He will be the last person to notice anything’s wrong with Gina.

He smiles at her as she passes by him and leaves it at that. She practically trips over a chair and into Jet in the motion.

“You good?”

She nods, smoothing out her skirt as she stands beside him.

“No I mean, are you like, good?”

“I’m assuming there was a difference between those two, but I barely slept last night so I’m never gonna figure it out unless you tell me straight up.”

“Okay so, not good.”

“I just tripped.”

“I’m not talking about the trip,” Jet continues, and she turns to look at him.

He looks worried.

Out of all the people at this camp, Jet was hands down the last person she would guess to be the first to check in on her sour mood today.

It’s not an unwelcome gesture, and he seems surprised by it too, so she answers simply, “Do I look that terrible?”

“You look like me.”

She laughs, genuinely, and it feels good.

“I never look like I wanna be in this barn,” Jet says, “And you always do, from the second you walk in. But today…”

“I look like you?”

He nods, “One of us needs to be on our A game today, otherwise we’re walking out of dance rehearsal with six broken bones between the two of us.”

She laughs again, “So we’re doing Love is an Open Door today?”

“I think so,” he shrugs, “After something Val wants to try with you and Ricky.”

First Ricky name drop of the day and it goes exactly how Gina expected: horribly.

She knows it’s gone horribly, even without registering the face she makes instinctively when he mentions him, because Jet winces and says, “Yeah Ricky reacted about the same.”

“You’ve seen him today?”

“Can’t really avoid him.”

“Neither can I, it seems,” Gina tries to joke.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Do you?” she asks, genuinely surprised.

“I love gossip.”

It’s such a little Ricky thing of him to say.

Laughter overtakes her, “I promise you, it’s not that interesting.”

“And I promise you, whatever it is, is his fault.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on his side?”

“I think Hans is supposed to side with Anna,”   he says with a shrug, “They’re like, in love, right?”

“Okay, they need to un-ban screens for about two hours, just so you and Ricky can learn the plot of this show.”

“Ricky knows the plot of the show, he’s the one who taught it to me.“

“Exactly the problem!”

“Well, if you don’t wanna tell me, you can tell Maddy. She’s good to talk to about these things.”

Gina quirks a smile to one side, looking at him, “Yeah, I’ll talk when you do, Maddy.”

“Shut up,” he looks down shyly, but he’s smiling, “I think you’re needed over there with Val, princess.”

“Not you too!”

“Ricky says it all the time, I just assumed that was your camp nickname.“

“Just his,” she rolls her eyes, backing away towards the stage where Val waits, with a clipboard, “Maybe do the love of your life here a solid and get him to drop it?”

He nods her off and she skips up the stairs at the center of the stage.

“Hey,” she says to Val, “You needed me?”

“Yes, have you seen Ricky?”

The question of the hour.

Not trusting her voice, she shakes her head in answer, and Val turns to scan the rest of the barn, just for the thought of him to practically summon him itself.

“Hey, sorry, I’m here,” he says through a huff while running to meet them.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not your mean and scary director!” she says, obviously attempting a joke neither of her actors find funny in the moment.

Ricky slides into place on Gina’s left wordlessly, she thinks he might nod to her in greeting, but she’s so busy trying to avoid eye contact she avoids the sight of him almost entirely.

It’s been less than 24 hours since the truth about the chocolates came out and they have not said as much as a word to each other since. She’s not exactly angry and not exactly okay with it but somewhere in the gray area in between, which manifests itself not into fiery fighting, but this odd tension no one other than scary, brooding Jet has been brave enough to ask about. And just because they didn’t let it erupt into a bigger fight than it was on the steps of the barn doesn’t mean things can’t still be awkward.

If the situation weren’t looking so bleak, Gina might say they deserved a pat on the back for handling it so much more maturely than they might have a few months ago.

“Interesting wardrobe choices today, Ricky,” Val giggles, scanning him up and down.

Gina chances a glance at him peripherally, and bites back laughter at the sight of his strange, very out of place fedora.

“Just came from a costume meeting with Maddox,” Ricky nods, taking the hat off and playing with it between his hands nervously, “My costume hat isn’t ready, but she insisted I needed to rehearse with something, so I could get the hang of it. And this was all they had leftover from the last show, I guess?”

“Well, I appreciate the commitment,” Val laughs again, “But don’t take it personally when I can’t get through what I’m about to say with a straight face.”

Ricky pouts funnily and shrugs her on.

“Okay so, I know we’re not technically scheduled to work on this scene today, but a thought hit me in the middle of the night that I need to start figuring out, so EJ let me steal you two for a few minutes before we start actual rehearsal,” Val starts to explain, “So you know how Anna and Kristoff are supposed to go on an adventurous quest through the mountains of snow in What Do You Know About Love, right?”

If it were yesterday, she might have joked about how Ricky definitely didn’t know that.

But it’s today, post-chocolates and confessions, so she just nods.

“Well, as you might have guessed we don’t exactly have a Broadway-sized budget here, even with the help from Corbin and Disney+, so we don’t have the means to build the elaborate mountains and bridge sets that Anna and Kristoff perform the song on.”

“Right, is that a problem?”

“For the most part no, but,” Val says, stretching out her clipboard in front of her, “One very pivotal and important part of the song is when they catch each other from falling through the slats in the bridge.”

Gina isn’t well acquainted with the Broadway staging, but it’s playing out perfectly in her head when she matches it up with the lyrics she was learning.

“So my mind has been going a hundred miles a minute all day since I realized,” Val smiles hopefully, “We need to come up with a different way for you, Gina, to fall so Ricky can catch you.”

Which, should be such a fun concept to explore while they can barely speak to each other.

“I’ve got a couple ideas going, but you two have such a great energy when you’re around each other, I figured we might as well start with what comes naturally,” she tucks her clipboard under one arm to clap her hands together, “Any ideas?”

Silence. Gina shrugs, plays with the hem of her skirt. Ricky shoves his hands in his pockets.

He’s the first to speak up, and suggests with no real enthusiasm, “Is there maybe like, a bench or something we could fall off of?”

“I thought of that, but it doesn’t sound too safe,” Val taps a pencil to her chin, thinking, “I could get some mats for the floor maybe, but it would be clunky to move on and off between scenes for the crew.”

“Is the fall absolutely necessary?” Gina tries, “I just mean like, maybe it’s a trip instead of a full fall.”

“I like where your head is, Gina,” Val nods, “But it needs to have big impact.”

“Well, if you’re looking for bigger impact, I do happen to have a levitation harness in the trunk of my car…” Ricky says, and Gina’s eyes widen. Why does he have—

“Long story?” Val laughs.

“Insanely,” Ricky echoes, “Also, a terrible idea, forget I said anything—“

“No, no, we could work with this, these two concepts,” Val starts to walk towards the steps, “If you start up higher, Ricky, and we just simulate you falling, Gina…”

“We could use the stairs?” Gina seems to follow Val’s train of thought.

“Let’s try it!” she beckons them over with a wave of her hand, and she runs down the steps, instructs them where to stand when they arrive, “Ricky you start up there, and Gina…”

Gina jogs down the couple of steps and stands by Val, focuses on the steps themselves and avoids Ricky’s gaze once again.

“You start walking up the stairs to follow him…” Val prompts, and follows a step behind Gina as she slowly walks up the first step, the second, “And then all of a sudden you lose your balance and just—“

Val pulls Gina back towards her by the shoulder, to simulate falling, and Gina really does feel like she loses her balance for a second. Just a split second though, because before she can even shift her weight sideways on her feet, Ricky lunges forward and grabs her at her elbow.

The touch is like a direct jolt of electricity to her systems. Every bit of feeling she had been trying (and failing) to suppress surges up and bubbles over at the feeling of his hand wrapped around her arm, the intense gaze that locks into her eyes with it.

They barely even moved and she feels just as out of breath as he looks.

Val has backed away without Gina noticing, and Ricky steadies her balance with another gentle hand on her shoulder, and whispers softly, “You okay?”

She nods.

“That’s definitely a contender!” Val jumps up excitedly, “You guys are great at this.”

“Thanks,” Gina hums as Val passes by her, running back on stage. She mourns the loss of physical contact with Ricky as he gently removes one arm, then the other, for Gina to stand back upright and walk back up to the stage.

“I know we have a ladder in a props closet somewhere I’m gonna bring to the next rehearsal we have on this,” Val claps, “Because seriously guys, so good.”

“Any other ideas?” Ricky says.

“There is one more, if you don’t mind,” she smiles, “It’s a little more abstract of a concept, but as a choreographer my brain is basically programmed to see everything as a dance.”

“You want us to fall, in a dance?” Gina asks, perplexed by the concept.

“I was thinking more of like,” Val quirks her head side to side, like she’s trying to get the idea out, “Like a spin and a dip!”

Ricky nods slowly, “Yeah, you two are definitely a little more advanced in the dancing department than me. You might have to explain.”

“Take Gina’s hand,” Val starts to instruct.

Ricky looks at Gina tentatively, and she braves a look back. “Can I?” he whispers.

She nods and holds out her hand between them. He takes it, and sparks fly yet again.

“Perfect, so now Gina will spin her body in towards you, so you’re practically flush against one another,” Val continues, and before Gina can talk herself out of it she follows instructions. She spins, wraps their interlocked hands around her waist and ends up with one side of her body against Ricky’s chest.

She is warm all over, with so many points of contact now. It’s such a fuzzy feeling she almost doesn’t notice Ricky instinctively wrap his free hand around her waist.

But her stomach loop-de-loops with the motion, makes her feel like she’s free-falling off a snowy bridge.

Val might have been onto something with this idea.

“Yes, yes, perfect Ricky,” Val claps her hands under her chin excitedly, “And then Gina just…”

“Falls,” she whispers, her nose so close to Ricky’s they might as well be touching.

And she could, probably, for the sake of character, bump their noses together.

It would definitely be one way to fall.

She settles on sticking to instructions, and dips back like a dancer, secure in his arms. She reaches an arm of her own up without thinking to hold around his neck, her leg pops out in front of her.

If he felt like calling her princess, she couldn’t even stop him. It’s like a fairytale, looking into his eyes like this, where she can memorize every speck of his irises, count each and every eyelash, feel like she’s the only girl on the planet.

“Oh my god,” Val literally squeals with excitement, “Yes, yes, yes! If we put them together, do the stairs first and then the dip… Okay, don’t hate me, but this is too good not to act on right now.”

Gina stands up abruptly, crosses to the other side of Ricky as she messes with the hem of her shirt nervously, and chokes out a “What do you mean?”

“EJ!” Val turns and yells over one shoulder, “Can we run their song, just once, so I can visualize it?”

Just when Gina was saying she was enjoying Val’s company, she had to suggest quite possibly the worst idea of the day.

But then her boyfriend one ups that horrible idea, and agrees to let her do it, “Yeah, of course. I gotta be honest, I’m kinda intrigued as to how you’re pulling this off.”

“We are about to blow your mind, Rocketman,” Val yells again, running down the stairs to meet them, “Well, they are, I’m just going to freak out about how lucky we got with these two!”

Ricky huffs, “No pressure, huh?”

“Ashlyn,” Val calls, “would you mind playing—“

“Not at all,” the third betrayal of the day, when Ashlyn agrees to let this terrible, horrible thing continue on for Gina. Maybe she should have confided in at least one person…

Jet throws up an enthusiastic thumbs up from the back of the barn, as if on cue with her thoughts.

“We don’t have to—“ Ricky turns to Gina, says softly so only she can hear, as they walk slowly to the bottom of the stairs, where they’ll start.

Gina feels like she has to choose her words carefully. It’ll probably be the only thing she says to him today.

He looks so genuinely concerned for her, as always, that she finds it hard to choose anything other than a bantering, “The hat helps. You look ridiculous.”

There’s an audible sigh of relief from him when he hears her answer.

“And see, if I had seen the movie on Disney+, I would have known this hat was wrong and refused to wear it.”

Maybe she could really forget it all, all the confusing feelings and bad timing, and just, let herself fall like she’d been spun around a dipped.

“I don’t wanna take up too much more of the rehearsal time, so let’s just take it from the…” Val ruffles through the pages on her clipboard, “Last verse? Ricky, your line, ‘anyone with half a brain’… sound good?”

They both nod wordlessly.

“Okay!” Val claps, the entire cast and crew assembled for rehearsal now huddled around the foot of the stage to watch, “Whenever you’re ready, Ashlyn.”

Ashlyn catches Gina’s eye, nods once, and counts them in with an on tempo, “5, 6, 7, 8…”

And then they’re off.

Ricky’s voice transports her immediately away from the thick and humid heat of summer camp and to a faraway snowy fairytale instead. He is so Kristoff, which is normally a good thing, but it’s like a fate worse than death to have to look at someone so endearingly easy to fall in love with in the middle of revelations that you’re probably in love with each other at a terrible time.

Her mind computes none of this strife for the time being, just rolls her eyes endearingly as he sings to her, “Anyone with half a brain would have worn some winter gear,” and with it, takes off his hat and places it on her head.

She giggles before she sings back “Anyone with half a life would have one friend,” and shoves the hat back up against his chest in time with the punch of the music, “Who’s not a deer!”

“I do!” Ricky means to sing, but it comes out in a burst of laughter directed solely at her, before he continues, acting like the trudge up the stairs is as hard as climbing a mountain, “Any fool who jumps headlong is gonna bang their head.”

“Any fool who doesn’t jump right now,” Gina sings, leaning impossibly close into his space, tauntingly, “Is probably gonna end up dead— woah!”

She simulates falling back just like Val had instructed, and just as before, Ricky grabs her forearm to catch her.

Her emotions are far more heightened this way than when staging it, and the flex of his biceps, and the curl of his fingers around her arm, make her feel fuzzy. She shakes her head lightly at him, eyes wide, and continues, “Like I said, you okay there?”

His eyebrows jump up, the hat lopsided on his head as he leans towards her, “I’ve been better.”

“You should have listened to me,” she teases, and she can’t fault Ricky for being so Kristoff when this whole exchange has made her so Anna too, a flush on her cheeks and her smile beaming directly at him. She re-balances herself to hop up the last step and join him on stage, and continues her line, “I’ve got good instincts, I know danger when I see it.”

If anyone notices that Ricky’s still got a lingering touch on her arm as they move, no one lets them know in the moment.

She definitely doesn’t. Gina honestly probably leans into the touch a little obviously, and can’t tear her gaze away from his eyes to say, “Just like I know love when I see it.”

No one can hear it but her, this close she can probably feel it too, but Ricky takes a sharp inhale of breath at that line, staring at her.

The moment can only last a millisecond because Ashlyn keeps playing, and it’s Ricky’s turn to shout, “Woah! Woah!”

It’s as if it happens in slow motion, the way his arms come around her waist, and in one fluid swoop, swings her down to spin and dip at his side, her arms both around his neck this time.

This moment, however, could stretch on for miles and miles.

She feels her chest rise and fall in sync with his own, looking like she had just run those miles and miles. Her gaze tracks across his face, from his eyes, to his cheeks, the curl that peeks out from under that ridiculous hat, back to his eyes and then to his—

She cuts off her own train of thought, runs her thumb up and down the back of his neck, feels grateful she can revel in this moment as long as she wants, not having to keep time with Ashlyn for this part.

Gina has the next line, so she steels her gaze against his and finds whatever breath is left in her lungs to say it.

“This is not quite how I thought we’d end up.”

Gina doesn’t know if he notices he does it or not, but he nods, a bewildered look on his face.

“You’ve gotta think things through, in life, and in love,” he says his next line, but Gina isn’t sure anyone else but her could hear it, he says it so breathily.

“Touché,” she laughs.

“Here, grab on, brace yourself,” he says, and counts them into standing in time with the melody Ashlyn joins back in with, “Ready?”

Gina puts a little more pressure on where her hands rest so she can help him pull her back up to standing, now facing each other. Again, he doesn’t drop the gentle grip around her waist.

“I’d like to point out that we’ve come a good long way here,” Gina sings breathily, “And that you’re, wow, really strong.” She slips her arms down from his neck along the sides of his arms, makes a point of cheekily squeezing his biceps as he says it.

He laughs with a dip of his head that makes their foreheads touch, as he says, “I lift a lot of ice.”

It takes a strength Gina didn’t know she had to tear her forehead away from his, reveling in how wonderful it feels to be this close to him.

“You saved my life just now, I guess I gotta say here, my first impression was wrong.”

“And see,” she giggles on the tip of his nose, “You’re nice.”

She sways back on her heels for them to sign in unison, still looking at each other, “With miles and miles to go, I guess it’s nice to know…”

Ricky juts a hand out between them, signaling for a handshake, as they continue, harmonizing, “That I can trust you…”

Gina grabs his hand, a perfect fit.

“Though the questions still remains,” they sing softly, “What do you know about love?”

And yeah, they’re very Kristoff and Anna, but this feels entirely like them, like they’re just Gina and Ricky, gazing into each other’s eyes in wonder with how they got here.

EJ clearing his throat loudly is what finally breaks them out of their trance.

They jump away with inhuman speed when EJ says, “Okay, that’s probably good for now.”

Val is yelling in excitement before Ricky can get his next line out, “Just good??!? That was amazing! Like, one million percent better than I had imagined!”

Gina tries to catch her breath, as EJ starts calling out directions for the rest of rehearsal. She vaguely registers him telling Jet to join Gina on stage for their number, Ashlyn flips pages of her sheet music around, chatter dissipates around the cast in the crowd.

She does, however, zone in on Ricky at her left, and they must be back to their wordless post-chocolates confession type of communication, because he looks shy, almost, as he ducks his head and scurries away, down the stairs to join the other non-rehearsing members.

Jet replaces him within seconds, tentative smile of his own.

“Before you ask, I’m not putting on a goofy hat.”

Gina laughs, playing with her hands nervously behind her back, and though it was nice to get to expect things this summer, she finds joy in basking in the unexpected for a little while.

5. quality time

Time moves differently at Camp Shallow Lake. Gina doesn’t know how it happens, but it’s like she both blinks and runs the longest race of her life, and then it’s three days before opening night. She figures anyone who has to rehearse for a lead role in just two weeks is bound to feel a little time warped at some point.

But not every Camp Shallow Lake leading lady is playing opposite Ricky Bowen.

It’s late at night, three days before opening and definitely past curfew, but Gina can’t sleep with all the thoughts clouding her mind, so she’s taken to some fresh air, sitting on the steps of the barn.

Gina is all for this quiet alone time, some of the only time of it she’s gotten since arriving, but there’s only so many times she can replay the same conversations with Ricky over and over again before she needs new material.

Shocking no one, it’s like he reads her mind.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

She looks up at the sound of his voice, loose sweatshirt on his shoulders and ratty flannel pants to go with unruly curls and a sleepy smile.

She shakes her head, “Maddox finally admitted she bit off more than she could chew with all the crew roles she took on. This is some of the only free time I have, though, to help.”

“Of course, leading lady,” he nods, “Triple threat: singing, dancing, sewing.”

“You know me and YouTube,” she hums, shrugs with the thread she’d just used to stitch a sequin onto a skirt, “What about you? I know you can’t sew.”

“Or sing or dance or act?”

“I never said that!”

“Just, good old-fashioned jitters, can’t sleep,” he replies, “I have not acquired the selfless insomnia skill you have yet.”

“Comes in after your fourth show.”

“Right, missed that part of Theater Kid 101.”

She laughs softly, “Do you wanna—“

“We don’t have to talk,” he answers, “I know things are—“

“No, yeah, I just—“

“I mean—“

“I didn’t wanna—“

“If I’m overstepping—“

“I don’t mind—“

“You could get eaten by a bear.”

“I’m sorry?” Gina ends their awkward mumbling over each other when she hears him say that last one, a tentative laugh already escaping her lips, “I could what?”

“EJ didn’t tell you about the bears here?”

“He did,” Gina nods, still laughing, because Ricky’s eyes are wide and he seems very serious, “I don’t think he meant it, Ricky.”

“He absolutely did,” Ricky nods, “Carlos backed him up.”

“I think they were just messing with you, scaredy cat,” Gina says.

“Gina, we’re in California, there’s a bear on their flag and everything.”

“How do you know that but not the name of your reindeer in the show?”

He waves her off, “I just think, if we’re both gonna be out here, contemplating sleep, we should stick together. For safety.”

From any other boy, it would have totally been a ploy. But Ricky is so Ricky that she can tell, the glow of the nighttime a halo around his form in front of her, that he would never imply they bask in this awkwardness if he didn’t think she could genuinely get attacked by a bear in the middle of theater camp.

She can’t see his hands behind his back but she knows he’s fidgeting with his fingers, nervously waiting for her answer, so she decides to give it to him, “I think my company is worth a dime tonight.”

He smiles and takes a seat on her right, one step below her, his feet planted in the grass, “Only a dime?”

“Sometimes when I’m sewing, I concentrate so hard I forgot to keep up conversation,” she says, setting up another string of thread on her needle, “So you get a discount, for the quiet night.”

“I meant it Gina, we don’t have to talk at all,” he says, “I know we haven’t really talked since…”

She lets the silence hang beneath them for a moment, focuses on the in and out of her simple stitch in her hands instead. With the amount of times their confusing chocolates conversation and subsequent energy-charged duet rehearsal have been brought up, you’d think they’d run out of ways to dance around the topic.

But they don’t call Gina a trained dancer for nothing.

She taps the side of his hip that’s sitting on the step with her foot, “We could talk about something else, like maybe… why you can’t sleep?”

“We don’t need to.”

“We can, though.”

“We don’t need to,” he repeats, turning his head to look at her quickly, “Your company is all I needed.”

Her smile sparkles like the sequin she’s forgetting to sew on.

“A whole dimes worth of it.”

She gets back to work, and leaves them in the quiet to sit in each other’s company.

She can count the reasons why this odd gray area of friendship with Ricky is a bad thing with the stitches of her thread. One stitch in, they’ve never been able to communicate in the right place at the right time and this is certainly all the wrong ones. One thread out, she has seen Ricky fall in and out of love with who everyone assumed is his soulmate and she’s just his friend.

But, another stitch in, she’s never been just his friend, right? Pulls the thread out, her feelings for him have been overwhelming since the second he was the first person to tell her she wasn’t scary at all. Tie a knot with the thread, he has said it, in ways around words, with gifts and kindness and touch and time, that it was all real. Thread in again, she didn’t make any of it up. They can try again.

Why, Gina thinks to herself, trying to fix the hem of the dress she’s working on, does she not think she deserves absolutely everything she wants?

Doubt trickles in, like the rattle of sequins she rummages through in their plastic box for the right color. Ashlyn’s tone of voice, her mocking nicknames, they shake Gina. Is she too ambitious to want this? To want to be happy in more ways than one?

Gina 1.0, she thinks, is a horrible nickname. Ricky shifts his weight on the step in front of her and she adds to her thoughts, but so is princess.

For months she told herself EJ is the guy who showed up for her, another rattle of sequins, a rapid beating of her heart. But Ricky showed up, stupidly asked them all for a group hug, and it’s like EJ disappeared. EJ only showed up when it was convenient to him, as she thinks back on it. Camp was his favorite place, he trusted other peoples opinions more than her own, Gina had to ask him herself to show up and kiss him.

Maybe it’s an unfair comparison to make, but she has never had to ask Ricky for anything. Sure, that has had its downfalls. She’s cried over Ricky more than she ever has and probably ever will over EJ, and she’s sitting at summer camp going over unresolved feelings from February. EJ hasn’t talked to her alone in days since becoming director, and she hasn’t stewed over those feelings once.

She is different than she was before. Starting over with Ricky meant something because that was true, they were different. But he was always going to be Ricky, and that is all she needs to know.

There is a perfectly stitched thread tying her to him. She couldn’t undo it if she tried.

She’s reached the end of the fabric with her thread in her hands and watches as Ricky taps an absent melody on the floorboards of steps under his feet.

He was pursuing her, romantically?

With the quick pace of camp she hasn’t had time to let that thought ruminate for long. It should probably make her angry. Angry she missed the signs, that she wasn’t clearer, that he found another person when she left, that maybe she didn’t try enough either, that things could have been different.

But she’s not angry at all.

It’s irrational, maybe, but she is giddy.

Ricky liked her.

She reasons that that statement could have changed by now, but he held her waist when they danced in the East High cafeteria the same way he did during rehearsal the other day.

Gina deserved the lead role in this show, just like Ricky told her, and like she knew all along, despite protest. She thinks she deserves a lead role in Ricky’s life too.

She could do it, couldn’t she? Right now? Tap him on the shoulder, and tell him everything she just thought of, pick him and be happy for every second that comes after it, no matter what.

He came out here worried about something though, and hell if she wouldn’t do anything for him. She thinks she can keep his quiet company, spend a few seconds of time with just him, without complicating his worries.

She hasn’t had much say in the matter of revelations these past two weeks, epiphanies coming and going without asking when is best for her.

So she chooses herself, she will let them have this revelation they are all they have to worry about.

No costumes or lyrics or lines or… birthday wishlists.

“How many do you have left?”

He turns back, surprised by her voice. She nods down at the paper now in his hands, he must have just taken out of a pocket to examine in their quiet.

“Uh, a few.”

“Only a few more days, right?”

“Yeah,” he nods, “I think I might be able to make it through all but one.”

“You know I hate a can’t-do attitude,” she hums, “Lemme see.”

“I thought we were being quiet,” he smiles, holding the paper hostage, “I think making fun of me attracts bears.”

“It’s a shame you make that so easy, Kristoff.”

He hands her the paper.

“What’s the one holding you up?” she asks, scanning the list for the few items left unchecked.

“Um, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m at theater camp,” Ricky says, leaning on a hand at his side and in closer to Gina smiling, “Not NASA.”

“You don’t think you can walk on the moon?” she jokes.

“Unless I missed that elective on sign up day.”

“And to think, you picked singing with me over making all your dreams come true,” she teases again, eyes on the paper.

“Well, that’s not entirely true.”

That gets her to look up.

She deserves this. Her lips quirk up in the smallest of smiles, but it’s clear he notices, sends her one of his own right back.

“I can make it happen,” she says.

“You’re gonna get me to walk on the moon before my birthday this weekend?” he laughs incredulously, “Look, Gi, I know I say you’re good at everything, but even this might be a stretch for you.”

“I have been known to make the impossible happen,” she smiles, smug, “Who got skate rat Ricky to stay and become a theater kid?”

“It definitely wasn’t through your over abundance of compliments on my behalf.”

“We have until Friday, right?” she asks, laughing at him, “Don’t underestimate me.”

“I never do,” he smiles at her.

“I should probably thank you,” she says quietly, slipping down off her step and joining him on his.

“For what?”

“I don’t know, lots of things,” she shrugs, unsure where her train of though is going, but knowing it feels right, “Your company has been really good for me too. Not just right now, but all year.”

“Yeah?”

She nods, “I’m really happy here.”

“Me too.”

“I’d be happier if I could get you to walk on the moon.”

“Hah, it’s probably for the best,” he flops back, laying down to stare up at the moon itself above them, “Lots of craters and rocks up there, I’d probably trip.”

“You would not!” she joins him, their shoulders pressed against each other.

“I’m so clumsy, think of how many times I fall up the stairs to the stage in rehearsal.”

“No, I mean, you physically couldn’t Ricky, there’s no gravity in space,” Gina giggles, “Unless you think you could bend the rules of space and time, too?”

“It’s not on the list, but it would be fun to try,” he says, “First man to trip on the moon.”

“They’d definitely make a Disney+ documentary on you,” she giggles again, “Two time star.”

“You too.”

“Huh?”

“You’d be coming with me, obviously,” he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “You promised.”

“Did I?”

“We’d have a great time on the moon,” he affirms, and she watches his eyes dance playfully, dreamily over the moon in the sky, it makes her want to sigh dreamily too, “No gravity. Nothing to bring us down.”

“No tripping, no messing it up, no falling.”

“I fall all the time around you, so no promises,” he turns to look at her, and she follows, their faces so close that their noses touch, “I think I’ve been falling since we met.”

“I do recall that first dance rehearsal.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” she whispers, “I just like messing with you.”

“We should talk, later.”

“We should,” she smiles, “You got a seat available in that ugly orange car on the way home?”

“I don’t,” he says, “But I do have one in my very nice orange car.”

“Ah, that’s too bad,” she shakes her head an inch or two to each side, accidentally bumping their noses in the motion, “I was willing to pay a penny and everything for that conversation.”

“Gina, I have been waiting to have that conversation for months,” Ricky says softly, “I can live without the penny.”

Funny she thinks, that her first thought is that she can’t live without him.

+1 i love you

“Has anyone seen Gina and Ricky?”

The backstage area on opening night is, to put it lightly, pure chaos. People are running from one side of the stage to the other, in an out of the wings, trading misplaced dance shoes and props, rehearsing last minute lines, attaching mic packs and panicking over every last thing, and, of course, looking for their two leading players.

“Curtain goes up in 30 minutes! Where are they?”

Gina sinks back against the wall of the exterior of the barn, and Camp Shallow Lake’s second most wanted throws a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle.

“You’re a terrible spy.”

“It’s lucky I’m good at everything else, then,” she whispers against his hand. They are crouched out of sight of the big window above them, but they are still giggling with every other breath, so he’s not entirely wrong. They’re making a terrible escape mission.

“I know that tone of voice from Los,” Ricky warns, “He’s about to barge out here, snowman puppet and all to personally drag both of us back inside.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for, Kristoff?” she shakes her head teasingly.

“Are you serious?” he whisper-screams, “I have no idea where we’re going! You’re the one who summoned me for this top secret quality time a half hour before opening!”

She throws a hand up to cover her own giggle this time, “Oh, you’re right.”

“It does happen from time to time,” he drawls, but he’s smiling too.

Ever since the other night, they have had this crazy, infectious happy energy around them. She can’t look at Ricky without giggling like she’s in a romance novel. Her brain turns to mush. She feels like she’s walking on clouds (which, is unfortunate, since they’re supposed to be walking on the moon!)

Does it help that she had a relationship-ending argument with EJ recently? Probably.

Can her new giddy energy be at all attributed to the fact that she’s 99% sure Ricky was going to kiss her at camp prom last night if they hadn’t gotten interrupted? Mostly.

No time for that though. What’s past is past, the motto of her summer. All she sees now is the adorable curl of Kristoff-ready hair and that Disney prince smile that is sure to make 63 countries swoon.

Can you believe his only goal is to make her swoon, though, just her, Gina Porter?

“I mean it, Gi, Carlos is coming out here in 10 seconds, so I hope you have a plan for where we’re going—“

“Around the back,” she snaps out of her dreamy reverie, pushes him towards the back of the barn, and they scurry, still crouched, down the length of it.

“Are you gonna tell me yet—“

“Shh!” she shushes him, taking the lead as they approach a hidden door on the back of the barn, “Almost there.”

“Someone’s gonna kill us, for leaving—“

“You did make a terrible first impression with Susan Fine,” she teases, hand on the doorknob.

“Very funny,” he deadpans, “I was thinking Corbin Bleu, maybe, and his scary cameras.”

“No way, you and Corbin are friends!” Gina smiles tauntingly, “I saw you hug him and everything!”

“She’s full of jokes today,” Ricky huffs.

“And… surprises,” Gina swings the door open and ushers Ricky inside, still fearing they might get caught and pulled back into the pre-show chaos.

He follows, and she finds the light switch and shuts the door while he looks at their surroundings, “Don’t tell me this is another weird ritual, just to prove you’re braver than me.”

“It’s not!”

“Did Maddox put you up to this?” Ricky scans up and down the shelves full of what appear to be very old and out-dated props from summers past, “Because I already told her, I’d replace the Twizzlers—“

“Maddox has nothing to do with this,” Gina smiles, turning to get her intended discarded prop of choice from where it’s slated behind a shelf, “I am a leading lady—“

“I know, princess.”

“—who keeps her word!” Gina says it in time with her large, wooden prop to fall to the floor and lay flat at their feet.

Ricky looks down at the floor, up at Gina, back down again, and his expression of shock grows slowly with it, his jaw dropping a little as he says, “Is that—“

“A moon!” Gina squeals, claps her hands excitedly under her chin, hardly able to contain her excitement anymore. She had stumbled upon this room with Maddox when she was helping her cart out some props last night (so, a white lie, Maddox had a little to do with it) and has been bursting at the seams since she saw the large wooden moon cut out that Ricky could so clearly walk on, dying to tell him she kept her promise and did the impossible. It’s been a long 12 hour wait since she discovered it, but the look on Ricky’s face is leaps and bounds worth it.

“I cannot believe you, Gina.”

“I have no idea what show this is from, and really, I do not care,” she laughs, “I don’t wanna say I told you so, but…”

“I said I never doubted you, but this is…” Ricky shakes his head in disbelief again, “No one’s ever done something like this for me before.”

“It’s just a prop moon, Ricky,” she feels suddenly bashful.

“It’s more than that and you know it,” he insists.

She steps back an inch, smooths out the skirt of her opening dress, “Well, what are you waiting for, Buzz?”

Ricky tilts his head to one side, adorably perplexed, “Gina, I know Buzz is in a different Disney movie.”

“Buzz Aldrin, second man to walk on the moon!”

“Why am I not the first man to walk on the moon?” Ricky says, about to take a step forward onto the prop.

“Because…” Gina smirks up from under her lashes, then yells quickly, “I’m gonna beat you to it!”

She jumps on both feet onto the moon, and Ricky’s stunned expression only last a second before he gasps and yells, “I knew your kindness was too good to be true!”

“I have heard I’m scary,” she teases, as he walks towards her quickly, and she swoops around his grasp to one side with a giggle, “But that’s not saying much since you’re scared of everything.”

“Not everything!”

“Well…” Gina drawls, as they circle absently around each other.

“I’m not scared of like,” he takes a step towards her, “Heights?”

“Is that true?” she quirks, “You went 0 for 2 with the levitation harness.”

“Very nice of you to bring up my trauma at a time like this, Gi!”

“I’m just saying…”

“I’m not scared of the woman in the woods!”

“Anymore…”

“I’m not scared of insanely hard dance moves Carlos assigns me even when he knows I can’t do them!” Ricky laughs, and Gina echoes, “I’m basically a pro at dancing now.”

“That’s just because Val likes you.”

“I’m sorry, are you implying my best friend Carlos doesn’t?”

“Maddox and Kourtney definitely won’t when they see how terribly you messed up their coat they made you,” Gina quips, taking a step forward, “Seriously, Ricky how’d you manage to tie this up so wrong?”

“Most of my coats do one thing, Gina: zipper,” Ricky says as Gina’s hands come up to untie the mess he made of the straps across the front of his body, “The amount of directions these things are supposed to get wrapped and tied? Should have come with an instruction manual!”

“Excuses, excuses. You’re lucky the costume fairy is here, at your service,” she makes quick work of the coats belt and attempts to re-wrap it the correct way, “Is that where your list of what you’re not scared of ends?”

“No, no, I’m not scared of thunderstorms, or of clowns,” Ricky starts to list off, “I’m not scared of spiders!”

“Debatable.”

“You were closer to it, why should I have had to cross the room to kill it!”

“Moving on,” she smirks, tries to smooth out the collar of his costume coat.

“I’m not scared of ice or snow.”

“Good one, Kristoff.”

“And I’m not scared of opening nights, anymore!”

“Really?” she says, her hand on his collar now a few inches lower, happening to feel the fast-paced rhythm of his heart beat, “Because I’m pretty sure your heart is racing?”

“That’s entirely your fault.”

Gina looks up at him, her hand falling flat against his heartbeat, and is sure if he mimicked her motion she’d feel hers going just as fast, if not double time.

“And I can promise you, it’s not because you’re scary.”

She can feel her nose scrunch with her smile, its so wide and beaming, because there is not a single thing standing in the way of her realizing it anymore: Ricky Bowen is in love with her.

No matter what ways he found around saying it, it was truer than any plot summary he could give on their show. She couldn’t deny it, no use trying to suppress it like she had done in the fall.

So she lets herself smile, leans into her touch on his chest and says softly, “Can we talk now?”

“Gina, we have a show in 20 minutes.”

“I just, I don’t wanna wait until we’re in your very nice ugly orange car,” she sighs, now holding onto the hem of his jacket collar, “Why wait? Why waste the time talking when we get home when we could just, say everything we need to say now and use that precious time and wifi to teach you all the plots to Disney musicals with my Disney+ membership?”

He stares at her, blinks, “I don’t know—“

“You can’t say no because I have a penny,” she quickly uses her free hand to pull Ricky’s penny from the morning the cast list was posted out from her pocket, “So you owe me whatever thoughts are in your head right now.”

“You kept that with you?”

“Good luck,” she shrugs.

He shakes his head out with a laugh, “Okay, uh all my thoughts? Well, I think it’s super hot outside to be putting on a show called Frozen.”

She laughs, and follows his gaze, as he looks around the room, “I think this room is a little creepy, I’ve been singing the lyrics to Kristoff’s Lullaby in my head all day so I don’t forget the words, and I think you look really pretty in your dress.”

“Thanks,” she hums softly.

“I am also thinking that this has been the best summer I’ve ever had, and I can’t believe it’s ending. I think I’ve never been good with endings, with change,” he says, and his eyes come up to meet hers.

“But I think,” he continues, “I think there’s one more thing I can cross my list right now, since we’re talking about things that scare me.”

“Do something that scares you,” she repeats the line she remembers reading on his list.

“This terrifies me, but I need to—“ he exhaled loudly, taps his foot nervously, “I had a thought.”

“You don’t say,” she smiles teasingly, “Do share.”

“I think,” he starts, “I don’t want the first time I kiss you to be fake, a part of the show.”

Oh.

“And I can’t kiss you now, for real, unless I do something really, really scary and—“

“Say it.”

“I love you.”

Gina has heard it from him before. She has heard it in the words he reassured her with when she was cast as Anna at the start of camp, how Gina 1.0 was meaningless to him because she was just Gina. She heard it in the way he thought to get her breakfast when she was running late, in the way he tied her shoe. She heard it in the way he wanted to get her gifts, how he did get her a gift all those months ago, because he hates seeing her sad. She heard it in every touch of his hand, how he held her steady, how he could have let go but didn’t, let his electric touch full of care linger. She heard it in the silence, the gentle quiet company of his body pressed next to hers, looking at the moon and dreaming about falling together.

And all of it is wonderful, and she’ll listen to him tell her in any of the many ways he can for forever.

But this? Hearing him say it this way?

“Can I—“

She doesn’t even let him answer, throws her arms around his neck and lets her lips find his.

Kissing Ricky is, without a doubt, the greatest feeling in the world. His lips are soft and his cheeks are warm and his fingers flex sweetly over her hips to pull her in closer, never let her go. Gina loves a rom com, a Disney princess moment where there is finally a perfect kiss. But she realizes now, kissing Ricky, that they got them all wrong. She doesn’t know how all the stars of her favorite love stories kiss the love of their life so simply, so perfectly, because her and Ricky cannot stop smiling at each other. It makes their kisses a little sloppy, a little off-center, not picture perfect in the slightest.

But it is perfect.

She captures his giggle with her lips before another smile of her own overtakes her, because how are you supposed to choose between kissing the boy of your dreams and smiling about the fact that you’re kissing the boy of your dreams?

She doesn’t choose. Gina has long since stopped choosing anything but herself. She is the perfect balance of everything she has ever wanted to be.

They separate just a hair of an inch, to catch their breath, and Gina smiles at him brightly.

“I never moved away,” she says, resting her forehead against his.

“What?”

“I just uh, I just realized, I said I wouldn’t quit on us if I wasn’t moving away,” she says, hugging herself closer to him, but looking up so they face each other to continue, “And I didn’t. I didn’t move away.”

He bites his bottom lip, looking up at her hopeful.

“So, I may not have been able to admit this, to you or anyone and mostly myself, but I never moved,” she sighs, “So I never quit on us, I never quit loving you.”

“Gina—“

“Not for a second,” she shakes her head, her voice heavy with emotion, “I love you too, Ricky.”

He kisses her again, messy with laughter.

“What do you think? Worth a penny?” she jokes, settling her hands on his shoulders before smoothing them down to grab his hands.

“Priceless.“

She could get lost in his gaze for about another hour or so, if time allowed. But you know how Camp Shallow Lake time works, and it’s only another second or two before the door to the room behind them bursts open.

Instead of jolting apart at the sound, they turn and look at their visitor, but only get closer together.

“Oh my god.”

“Carlos, it was my idea to leave the barn—“ Gina tries to rapidly take the blame for their disappearance, but Carlos cuts her off with another exasperated sigh.

“No, I mean thank god,” he throws his hands up in defeat, “Gina, I don’t know how you did it.”

“Did what?” she asks skeptically.

“Were friends with Ricky while he was pining,” Carlos huffs, leaning against the doorframe, “This was exhausting.”

“I told you someone was out to kill me today,” Ricky, flushed with embarrassment at being called out, drops his head on Gina’s giggling frame.

“Glad it’s over,” Carlos says, “We were rooting for you.”

“We?”

“So Anna isn’t in love with Hans?” Jet appears in the doorway behind Carlos, grin on his face.

“The show starts in 15 minutes, can we not joke about messing up plot points anymore?” Carlos says, but Jet laughs a little more.

“I learn from the best,” Jet shrugs, smiles at Ricky, who is still bright pink.

“Oh thank god, everyone’s here,” Kourtney runs into view in that moment, swinging her long coronation train behind her, “Maybe tell me about the team meeting before hand, next time?”

“This isn’t a team meeting—“ Carlos start to say, but Ricky yells over him, stepping closer to the doorway.

“No that’s definitely what this is!”

“Oh no!” Kourtney is not swayed by Ricky’s sudden outburst, and catches on immediately, “We interrupted something!”

“No, no, no, we were just getting ready to leave,” Gina hops off the moon prop and joins the rest of them at the doorway.

“Well, if we’re all here and not, confessing anything, I’ll make a confession,” Carlos smiles, looping an arm through Ricky’s affectionately, “I’m really glad we’re doing this together, the five of us.”

“Aw, Los,” Kourtney pouts, “I agree, I don’t think I could have done this without you.”

“First lead role for all of us?”

“Speak for yourselves,” Ricky teases, and Gina punches his smug shoulder, “No, this is, definitely my favorite show I’ve ever done. This has been huge for me, in more ways than one.”

“You guys are cool,” Jet joins in, and everyone cheers.

“Wow, that was huge!”

“Shut up!”

“Best summer ever,” Gina smiles, grabs Kourtneys hand on one side and Ricky’s on the other.

Jet and Carlos complete the circle, and they huddle in a haphazard squeeze.

“Frozen Five!” Kourtney squeals, and they all echo, an enthusiastic “Frozen Five!!!”

“Okay, as touching as this moment was, Val, bless her nerves, is about to send out a search party,” Carlos says, turning and signaling them to follow him.

“We ready to do this thing?” Kourtney sings with Jet at her side, behind Carlos.

Gina and Ricky bring up the rear, having not dropped each other’s hand and not really needing to.

“You know, I actually did get you an opening night gift,” Ricky leans towards her and whispers.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she says, “It’s your birthday.”

“I know, and I got everything I’ve ever wanted,” Ricky smiles, pulls something out of his costume coat pocket.

“That was corny,” she says, but so fondly endeared as they stop in front of the entrance to the barn, and he holds a closed fist out to her.

She gently opens his hand, to find a little piece of chocolate.

Gina gasps out a loud laugh, pushing the chocolate that once would have stung out of the way to hold his adorable face in both her hands. If you had told her a few months ago this would be happening, that she wouldn’t hurt at all, quite the opposite actually, she would have never believed you.

Instead, her fingers dance on his cheeks as she holds him close to her.

Her nose scrunches cutely in a smile, “I hate you.”

“I love you, too, princess.”

So she kisses him once, twice, three times, then pulls him inside to end the most perfect summer of her life, in love with all the ways she and Ricky can say they’re in love with each other, and excited to find a million more.