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An ominous feeling arises in Ricky’s stomach as he pulls up in front of Gina’s new house.
The last time he pulled a car up to a house belonging to anyone with the surname Porter he’d began to fall. Last time he watched her step into her own home it was after she’d kissed his cheek.
It’s true. There’s nothing he’s forgotten about homecoming.
Ricky stands up out of Big Red’s car and starts walking towards the front door. A small SUV is in the driveway, a car Ricky assumes to be Gina’s mom’s. The house looks nice from the outside, and it almost reminds Ricky of the house he grew up in. And it’s nice, feeling home again.
Ricky knocks on the door and sooner than expected he’s staring at Gina. She’s taken out her braids since he last saw her, and her curls are a wonderful welcome. They’re what first drew Ricky to her. The way she carried herself with confidence in every facade of her being.
“Ricky!” Gina smiles brightly as she ushers him in. “Hi.”
Ricky looks around the house, seeing piles of boxes in every corner. “Hey.” He looks back at her, “nice place.”
Gina nods along, still smiling, “yeah, it is. Maybe not as nice as Ashlyn’s place, but it’s home.” The way she says that word— home —puts Ricky at ease. Like she’s promising her presence for at least the next year.
“Wanna give me a tour?” Ricky asks as he runs a hand through his hair, an awkward quirk of his.
Before Gina can utter a response, her mom comes bounding through the hallway. “Regina!” She scolds gently, “did I not raise you to show your guests around? Poor Ricky shouldn’t have to ask!”
Ricky blushes as Terri’s exclamation. He met her a couple of times last year, and it’s not lost on him how she radiates the energy he can only connect with genuine mothering.
Gina rolls her eyes, “I was going to, Mom. I promise.”
Terri lays a hand on Gina’s face, “good.” She kisses her forehead and leaves for the room next to them, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”
Ricky calls after her, “Thanks, Ms. Porter!”
She turns back and smiles at the boy, “of course, Ricky.”
Gina quickly pulls Ricky into the hallway by the main entrance, “I think my mom likes you more than me.” She grumbles softly as she leads Ricky towards her bedroom.
“Don’t be jealous, Regina .” He jeers jokingly.
Gina sighs, “don’t make me clap back, Richard. ”
Ricky simply grins at her response as she pulls him into her bedroom. “Welcome to my lovely abode.” Gina announces as she widens her arms and spins around the practically empty bedroom.
Ricky looks around. Besides a mattress and blankets on the floor, all he can see is boxes. If he had to guess, it looks like she’d be better off sleeping on the couch.
“Uhh, Gi?” Ricky rubs his temple, “You don’t have any furniture.”
Gina giggles lightly as she points towards the larger boxes by her closet door, “that’s why you’re here. Mom and I are pretty terrible at setting up furniture, so I called you!”
Ricky can help but feel endeared by that. He couldn’t care less about the reason why she invited him over. All he wants is to spend time with her.
“You’re telling me that you can’t just look up a video on YouTube?” Ricky jokes as he sits down on the floor, pulling one of the boxes closer to him.
Gina drops down on the floor next to him, “I figured having company wouldn’t be such a bad thing?” She shrugs gently as she hands Ricky a pair of scissors to break open the cardboard box that apparently has her new dresser in it.
Ricky rips open the box, pulling out the instructions. He stares blankly at the piece of paper before he finally understands why Gina can’t seem to figure out how to build this. “This isn’t even in English!” Ricky exclaims, “I think this is either Dutch or Swedish.”
Gina takes the paper from his hand, “Dutch. It’s definitely Dutch.”
Ricky laughs as he pulls out three small bags of hardware. “Care to help me?” He gestures towards the pieces of wood in the box.
“Of course,” Gina replies as she starts to empty the box of its contents. “We might have to search on YouTube after all.”
~~~~~
Four hours later, the sun is beginning to set and they’ve finished building her dresser and one of the nightstands. However, Ricky is certain he did more of the building than Gina. She mostly laughed as he tried not to nail his hand with her hammer.
Ricky watches the door as Gina comes bounding through the door, a plate of snacks in her hand. “My mom is gonna order dinner for us in a little bit, but I figured snacks could hold us over for a little while longer.”
Ricky snags one of the carrots off the tray and pops it into his mouth, “that’s really sweet of her.”
Gina nods as she reaches for a stick of celery, dipping it in the small cup of peanut butter. “Are you ready for senior year?” Gina asks, switching the conversation to something more familiar.
Ricky shrugs his shoulders, “I guess. I mean I’ve always heard about how big senior year is, but I haven’t really thought about it being my last year at East High.” He leans back on his hands, “it feels surreal almost.”
Gina smiles at him, “I’m sure it’ll feel even more surreal when your last opening night comes.” She doesn’t want to think about any of that, any potential endings.
Ricky shakes his head, “we don’t need to think about that. We still have to find out what Ms. Jenn has picked out for this fall.”
The excitement and anticipation is shared between them when it comes to unknown fall musicals. And ever since Frozen, Ricky feels even more excitement when he thinks about playing a lead with Gina again.
“So Ms. Jenn hasn’t even told your Dad yet?” Gina asks as she takes a bite of one of the carrots.
Ricky looks at her, “not that I’ve heard of. But I don’t really care to know what goes on during their ‘dates’.”
Gina can hear the slight change in his voice when he talks about his father’s relationship with their drama teacher. She knows that he’s happy for his dad, but she also knows that being happy doesn’t apply all the time.
Ricky picks up another carrot and drops it into his mouth, “how are you?” He asks, mouth half-fill with the orange vegetable. “You know, after everything with EJ and camp?”
Gina feels distaste in the air. “I’m good, actually. Truthfully, we should have never dated in the first place. He’s starting a whole new chapter of his life now that he’s graduated, and I know personally that long-distance relationships never work out.”
Ricky resonates with that. The whole time Nini was in Denver, he felt lost. Being apart from someone like that is hard, and he wouldn’t ever want to do that again. Especially with someone he genuinely loves—someone like Gina.
They haven’t addressed anything about Shallow Lake or the Camp Prom since Ricky took her home following the show. She’d gone straight to Louisiana and he’d gone to Chicago. This is the first time he’s seen her in nearly a month and he doesn’t feel like messing up what they have.
“I get that,” Ricky replies, “I really do.”
Gina smiles sincerely. “You always do. You get me, always have.” He’s always been the one person who she felt like she could be herself around. She’s never pretended to be anyone else around Ricky Bowen. He’s quite possibly the only person that Gina has never hidden a part of herself from.
Ricky sucks in a breath, “it’s what friends are for.”
He watches her face for a moment, studying her gaze as she looks upon him. Her dark eyes are full of so much love and grace, but also so much mystery. A mystery he looks forward to solving piece by piece, day by day.
Ricky only averts his gaze when he hears Gina’s mom’s voice from the other side of the house. “Dinner should be here any minute, can you come out to set the table?”
Gina hops up from the floor and Ricky follows her out of the hallway. “Coming, Mom!” Gina replies as they continue towards the kitchen.
Ricky loves it here. He loves this side of Gina—almost as much as he loves the side of her that commands the stage and wows everyone in an audience.
He really does love her.
~~~~~
Ricky, Gina, and her mom all share plates of Thai food for dinner. Ricky knows that Gina loves that particular type of cuisine after she would request it every time he suggested food when she was over at his house.
They used to hang out a lot last fall—after homecoming. Ricky would spend Friday nights at Gina’s house watching movies and playing Mario Kart on her old Nintendo, and she would spend various weeknights at his house or Big Red’s basement helping him with choreography or just venting to each other about the school day. It was simple back then.
However, Ricky doesn’t wish for anything else. He doesn’t wish things were different now. He is just learning to trust the process, and sometimes that means letting things take time, instead of forcing anything too early.
He wants Gina to be ready, even if that means waiting for her when he’s already there.
“So are you excited about the premiere next week, Ricky?” Gina’s mom asks Ricky as she begins to clear the table of their plates.
Ricky smiles as he hands her a bowl, “I guess so. I still haven’t decided what to wear though. I don’t really know what people wear to Hollywood premieres.”
Gina giggles softly as she swats his arm, “of course you don’t. Maybe I need to show you some of this year's Met Gala outfits.” She muses with a grin on her face.
Ricky simply laughs at her remark, savoring her sweet smile and infectious laughter. “I take it you already have an outfit?” He doesn’t really know why he’s asking, because he already knows the answer to this.
“I do,” she beams as she hops up from the table and starts moving towards the hallway. “Wanna come back and see it?”
Ricky jumps up after her, “sure!” He’ll jump at any chance to be around Gina Porter, even if it’s for her to show him an outfit.
Gina bounds back towards her bedroom with Ricky in tow. She pulls out a piece of clothing from under a protective bag, it was the first thing she hung up in her new closet.
Gina lifts the pants and top out of the bag and holds them up so Ricky can see them. They’re black and lacy, simple yet alluring, and something that Ricky knows Gina will look stunning in—although to him, she could walk a runway in a plastic bag and have a crowd on their feet applauding her.
“Wow, Gi. It’s amazing,” He smiles sincerely, “I bet you look really beautiful in it.”
Gina blushes slightly at his confession, “thanks, Ricky.” He always has a way to make her melt in the tiniest ways. “I still haven’t decided what I want to do with my hair though. I could do a slicked-back ponytail, or I could get braids done again—though I have yet to find a great braider in Salt Lake, I could leave it down…”
“—do that,” Ricky exclaims proudly, “your curls are one of my favorite parts about you, show them off, Gi.”
When Gina doesn’t respond back to him immediately, Ricky gets worried. He wonders if he’s overstepped by commenting on her hair, or if it’s too much, or maybe she didn’t actually want his advice and just needed to vent. “But you can do whatever you want, Gina. Don’t listen to me.”
“No, I will, Ricky. I value your opinion, and it means a lot to me. Thank you,” Gina lays her hand on his head and runs her fingers through the tips of his own curls, “and for the record, your curls are my favorite part about you—physically at least.”
Ricky stares into Gina’s eyes as she lowers her hand from his head. She’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen, and he could so easily get lost in her. It’s a place he’d be happy to get lost in.
“We should—“
“Yeah I need…” Ricky steadies his voice, “you first, Gi.”
Gina takes a small step backwards, “I should let you go back home now, you’ve done more than I could’ve asked for.” She means that in multiple ways, but only one she’s willing to admit. “Thanks for everything, Ricky.”
Ricky grabs his jacket from the back of her door and starts down the hall, “anytime, Gi. And I mean that. Now that you’re back, you can always call me, day or night.”
“Same to you, Bowen,” Gina replies as she opens the front door and lets Ricky exit the house. “Good night.”
“Good night, Gi. I’ll see you at the premiere.” Ricky watches as she closes the door and he hops into his car. He feels the rising sense of joy bubble up in his chest as he starts the engine. Any day spent with Gina Porter is one to celebrate, and that’s precisely what he wants to do. He cranks up the stereo and drives away, knowing he’ll be back.
Gina looks on from the window as the little orange car disappears down the street. “Can’t wait.”
She has a feeling that the premiere of the documentary is gonna be very special in so many ways.