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One foot over the railing, then the other, Gina was sure she was going mental. She had never done anything like this before, and she didn’t know why she was starting now. All she knew was that she had to get out of her house, and the only way she could was to sneak out through her balcony and try and climb her way down from the second story.
It wasn’t like there was anything really happening in the house – but being there amongst all those boxes for the second time that year, with her mom scrambling around trying to find her work resources in each one, just felt so stifling. She had to get out – she didn’t care where she went.
Gripping the railing of her balcony, hoping she wouldn’t trip and fall to her death, Gina wondered if this really was the best idea. She had never been the greatest with heights, and seeing as she was in a new place, she didn’t know how sturdy the place they were renting really was. She took in a shaky breath, trying to focus on where her feet that were leading her.
Suddenly, “Don’t step there.”
“Oh my, God!” Gina yelped, her foot slipping, before she gripped the railing tighter, managing to save herself from falling to her death.
She glanced below her to find the source of the voice, a glare set to her features, when she spotted a curly haired boy below her, a skateboard in one hand, looking up at her. She huffed out a few adrenalin spiked breaths, before she seethed, “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Sorry,” he called out, not sounding at all apologetic, “But, you shouldn’t step on the gutter, it’s been loose for years. You’ll fall.”
“You almost made me fall anyway!” she snapped back, before taking a proper look at the gutter. The boy was right – there were a few worn out patches that looked like they’d give with a bit of pressure. Realizing that maybe there was some merit to the guy’s words, she called out in a slightly less hostile tone, “How do I get down, then?”
“There’s a branch beside you that’s sturdy enough to walk onto. You can climb down the tree instead.”
Gina spotted the tree over her shoulder and pointed to it while glancing back at the boy, questioning whether it was the branch he was talking about. He nodded, still watching her from his vantage point on the ground, and so she reached out and found her footing on the branch, eventually inching her way to the thick of the trunk so she could climb down.
Placing her hands on her knees so she could breathe out her relief at having made it safely to the ground, the boy stepped toward her with a curious expression on his face. Gina absentmindedly noted that he was kind of cute, and if he hadn’t almost killed her, she might’ve felt a little bit nervous at the prospect of having met someone like him on her first night in Salt Lake City.
“So, are you new here?” he asked, his eyes roaming over her face, and down and up her body, as if trying to take all of her in at once.
“Yeah,” Gina replied, a little tentatively, not sure what kind of a person she’d stumbled across, “We just moved in today.”
“And you’re already sneaking out?” he raised an eyebrow, glancing up at her balcony where her lights were off so her mom would think she’s asleep.
“I had to get away from the craziness,” Gina explained, not sure why she felt comfortable enough to disclose that piece of information with this stranger.
The boy smiled, and Gina liked the way his eyes softened when he did it, “Yeah, I get that.”
Gina stared at him for maybe a beat too long, feeling like this was the beginning of something she couldn’t yet define, before she subtly shook her head and asked, “And who are you again?”
“Oh, right,” the boy chuckled, scratching his cheek, “I’m Ricky. I live right here too, so I guess that makes us next door neighbors.”
“And do you make it a habit to sneak out too?”
“Only on special occasions,” he grinned, leaning forward conspiratorially, “I have a secret spot that I go to that no one else knows. But since you’re new around here, and have no one to tell, I’d be happy to take you there…”
He trailed off, as if waiting for her to complete his thought, so she told him his name, “Gina.”
“Gina,” he repeated, his smile ticking up again, then softer, almost under his breath like he didn’t expect her to hear, he said, “Pretty.”
Gina was sure she flushed red at the comment and was thankful for the dark cover of night so he wouldn’t notice. Clearing her throat, she said, “Well, seeing as I literally don’t know where anything is, I guess tagging along with you wouldn’t be so bad. Unless you’re a serial killer.”
“See, that is something I would never reveal even if it were true,” Ricky joked, and then leaned forward to grab her hand and pull her along with him, “I stole my best friend’s car earlier today, so come on, let’s go!”
“You stole it?” Gina repeated, incredulously, growing more heated at their joined hands, surprised at the boldness of Ricky when she had just barely met him.
“Don’t worry, I plan on giving it back. Eventually.”
Gina stuttered out a surprised laugh, feeling easily charmed by his silliness, and she decided to just go along with whatever was happening right now. She normally had everything planned to the tee, her life a meticulous cycle of scheduling and maintaining appearances – but those plans were always uprooted the second she had to pack it all away and start again somewhere new. She might as well be a little spontaneous, because nothing she planned for ever turned out the way she wanted it to anyway.
A bright orange car came into view, and Ricky announced, “Your chariot awaits!”
“Well, that sure is something…” Gina commented, slowing to a halt as Ricky fumbled around in his pockets for the keys. He had let go of her hand to do so, and Gina had to admit that she felt a little disappointed at him doing so.
“Careful what you say about it,” Ricky shot Gina a meaningful look, “All the most momentous occasions in my life have happened in this car. It’s practically my good luck charm.”
Gina shot him a look that read are you being serious? to which he shot his own look along the vein of I’m being as serious as a heart attack. With their silent conversation, they both hopped into the car, Ricky turning on the engine and getting to driving.
As they motored along, Ricky pointed out all the things around the town that were worth mentioning, prefacing them with some crazy anecdote that he and his friends had experienced while they were high. By the sounds of it, Ricky and his friends never took anything too seriously, and Gina thought she could take a leaf from his book occasionally, as the resident serious person.
Eventually, Ricky fell silent, having run out of silly stories to spill. Some beachy indie rock song droned from the car’s less than stellar quality radio, and Ricky tapped his fingers along to the rhythm to fill the gap in their conversation. Gina watched him from the passenger side and took him in; the slope of his nose, the way some curls fell into his eyes even though he regularly pushed them back, the sight bob to his throat every time he swallowed.
Okay, so maybe Ricky was exactly Gina’s type. She was allowed to appreciate attractive guys.
That is, until he tilted his head to look at her, a smug smile on his face, and broke the silence with, “Are you enjoying the view?”
“No,” Gina spluttered out too quickly, trying to wrack her brain for some excuse, “I was just curious.”
“Curious about what?”
“About what grade you’re in.”
“I’m going into my senior year at East High,” Ricky responded, “You?”
“Junior year, at East as well.”
“Well, look at that. You’re in for another Ricky Bowen tour and let me tell you they’re messier within those school walls. Extreme boredom results in a lot of chaos.”
“Can’t wait to hear all about it,” Gina giggled.
God, who was she? Giggling at some guy like she was smitten already. She needed to stand up.
But then, Ricky glanced over at her with his own goofy smile, and she melted just a little, and she decided that part of being spontaneous meant going with the flow of her emotions. And her emotions were telling her that she liked being charmed by Ricky.
They pulled into a small parking lot, and Gina glanced around to try and see where the super special spot Ricky had mentioned could possibly be. She came up short when all she could see was some parkland with dead grass and a rickety old playground. Confused, and with a cautious tone, Gina asked, “So, you really have brought me here to kill me, huh?”
Ricky chuckled, undoing his seatbelt, “No. This is the playground my mom used to take me to when I was growing up. There used to be an elementary school right by it, but then it was knocked down to make room for a retirement village, so no one comes here anymore. Except me.”
They both got out the car and Gina followed Ricky over to the dilapidated swing set, where he plonked himself onto one of the swings, gesturing for Gina to sit in the other. She did, gingerly setting herself down for fear that the swing would snap beneath her, and then settling more comfortably when it proved it could hold her weight.
“So, what do you do when you’re out here?”
“Think, write music, scream,” Ricky replied, and he said it jokingly, but Gina could detect an undercurrent of truth in it.
She focused in on a topic she thought would cheer him up a bit, “You write music?”
“Uh, yeah,” Ricky chuckled nervously, scratching his cheek again. Must’ve been a habit of his. “I play guitar and sing too. It’s usually just an outlet for those pesky pent-up emotions.”
“I get that,” Gina nodded, and she saw him tilt his head in curiosity. “I don’t write my own music, but I am a theatre person. Playing someone else is a great way to emote the hard feelings when you don’t know how to in reality.”
“Hm, I never thought of it that way,” Ricky mused, holding intense eye contact with Gina, causing her to shift in her seat. “My friend Carlos would love you. He’s always looking for people to induct into his theatre cult. He’s been trying to get me to join for years.”
“You shouldn’t knock it until you try it,” Gina leaned over to nudge shoulders with Ricky, keeping the eye contact, not wanting to break the connection, “You might find you’re really good at it, being creative and all.”
“If you audition, I will,” Ricky supplied, grinning at Gina, but she could hear a hint of nervousness in his tone.
“Deal,” Gina shoved out her hand, intending for them to shake on it. Ricky did grab her hand, and gave it one shake, but where Gina thought he would let go, he simply held onto it, pulling it into his lap while he continued to look at her.
His gaze was even more intense now, flicking about her face like he was trying to figure her out, before he smiled softly, “Yeah, Carlos would love you. You’ve done the impossible – convinced me to give musicals a chance.”
“Sometimes it takes someone new to shake things up,” Gina whispered.
“Still upset about the move then?” Ricky asked, his thumb swiping over the back of her hand and causing her to shiver slightly.
Gina finally broke eye contact at that, her gaze dropping to her shoes, and her brows furrowing slightly. She didn’t know what it was about Ricky, but she felt at ease with him. Maybe it was that he didn’t know her well enough to judge her, or maybe it was because he looked at her like he was interested in her, or maybe it was the fact that he was listening to her enough to remember she wasn’t happy about moving.
Either way, she decided to open up a little to this stranger who didn’t really feel like a stranger at all.
“It’s not so much the moving that’s upsetting,” Gina spoke slowly, a little self-conscious about what she was revealing, “It’s more about my mom making promises she never keeps. She said we would stay in my last house for at least a full year. We moved here three months later.”
“Wow,” Ricky replied, his voice heard from somewhere above her bowed head, indicating he had shifted slightly closer to her, “That’s a lot to deal with. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Gina shook her head, lifting it to catch his eye again, and seeing that he had in fact moved closer. She could feel his breath fanning gently onto her nose, as she continued, “I’m used to it by now. It’s not the first time this has happened. I just wish she wouldn’t make promises she couldn’t keep.”
“I know a thing or two about that,” Ricky chuckled awkwardly, his hand still holding hers clenching a little, “My parents never stop arguing. They always say they’re going to work things out and then they never do. Sometimes I wish they would just get divorced and get it over with. But I don’t really want that. I’m scared to death of what’ll happen if they do break up.”
“That’s really tough,” Gina squeezed his hand in hers, trying to convey her empathy through her eyes.
“Yeah. The worst part is they say it has nothing to do with me, as if it doesn’t impact me at all,” Ricky scoffs, clearly harboring a lot of pent-up anger over the situation, “I just have to get away from it all sometimes. It’s why I come here.”
Gina nodded, understanding the feeling completely. “I like it here. It’s quiet.”
Ricky smiled, nodding his agreement, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to spill my guts. You barely even know me.”
“Hey, I did it first,” Gina shrugged.
“Well, I have heard that I’m irresistible.”
“Oh, so is this you telling me you’re a lady killer?”
“Hardly,” Ricky scoffed, “I’ve pulled one girlfriend, and that ended disastrously.”
“Well, it’s better than my ground-breaking number of zero pulls.”
“I don’t believe that for a second. You’re way too beautiful to–”
Ricky cut himself short, his eyes widening at the statement that had stumbled from his lips, mouth dropping for a second. Gina felt herself flush, and not wanting to make him feel too embarrassed she said, “I guess I wasn’t the only one enjoying the view.”
Ricky let out a surprised laugh, the tips of his ears red enough to notice under the moonlight, and Gina was sure she looked much the same. She couldn’t believe how easily this connection had formed, on her first day in a new city, when usually it took her months to find someone who would even talk to her.
Maybe this time it would be different for her. She hadn’t allowed herself to hope for a long time.
“I should probably take you back now, before your mom bans me from seeing you,” Ricky whispered, pulling Gina up from her spot on the swing, “That would be the real tragedy.”
“I’m sure you’d survive. You’ve only known me for a night.”
“And this single night changed the trajectory of my life forever.”
“You’re a huge dork, aren’t you?”
“I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out.”
“The skateboard threw me off the scent.”
They drove back to their houses, falling into easy chatter about meaningless topics, and Gina noticed Ricky’s constant glances her way, and the dopey rosy cheeked smiles that would come with them. They made her heart flutter, and her palms sweat, and she loved every minute of it. She hadn’t felt excited like this about anyone in a long time.
Ricky pulled up into his driveway but made no real effort to move. He just stopped the engine and then sat back into his seat, resting his head back and shifting his gaze to meet Gina’s. He smiled at her without saying anything, waiting for her to make the first move.
“So, can I look for you at school tomorrow?” Gina asked, also not wanting the night to end just yet.
“Screw that, just come with me. I’ll even teach you how to skate on the way there.”
Gina laughed, shaking her head, “I’d rather not show up to my first day at a new school scraped and bloody.”
“Another time then,” Ricky laughed with her, “But, I’m serious. Come to school with me, I’ll show you all the shortcuts, and then I’ll show you all the ways you can stall so you arrive two periods late.”
“I can already sense you’re going to be a bad influence on me.”
“Just don’t introduce me to your mom and you’ll be fine.”
Gina’s heart thrilled at that statement, at the idea of Ricky being her little secret. She probably would tell her mom about him sooner than later – she could never keep a secret for long – but for now, she was happy just to bask in the joy of finding a new friend so quickly when she normally never did.
A cute new friend at that, her mind whispered to her, and she felt like she could be drunk with happiness.
“I better go in,” she whispered after a beat, not wanting to, but knowing she had to sleep before her first day at school tomorrow.
“Okay,” Ricky whispered back, the side of his mouth lifting in a small smile, “I’ll probably stay out here for a while. My house lights are still on – the parents are probably still arguing. Whisper fighting, thinking I can’t hear them from my room. They’re insufferable.”
Gina frowned, not liking the idea of Ricky being out there all alone in the early morning hours.
“Give me your phone. You can text me while I get ready for bed.”
She held out her hand expectantly, and Ricky easily handed it over. She typed in her details, and handed it back to him, feeling little sparks of electricity at their fingers brushing. Then, because she was high on spontaneity tonight, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Ricky’s cheek.
“Thank you, Ricky. Goodnight.”
Ricky stared at her with a shocked expression, breath hitching at the action, but she only smiled and crawled out of the car, not looking back for fear of being the color of a beetroot.
She shakily climbed her way back up the tree, knowing Ricky was probably watching her and laughing. Just as she was about to step back onto her balcony railing, she glanced over at the car and saw Ricky smiling at her from his seat. Stunned to see him still paying attention, she misstepped and placed her foot on the broken gutter, and it loosened from beneath her. She yelped as she began to fall, but she was quick enough to cling onto the rails like she had earlier in the night, saving herself just in time.
She sighed a breath of relief and hoisted herself up onto her balcony, noticing Ricky had scrambled from the car and was standing with one foot in and one foot out as if he was prepared to sprint to save her fall. She threw a thumbs up his way to assure him she was okay, positively mortified by her clumsiness.
Catching her breath on the floor for a few seconds, she heard her phone ping.
From Ricky: don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me already
Gina shook her head, laughing exasperatedly as she pressed her phone to her chest from her position on the floor.