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Gina stretched her arms over her head as she turned into her boyfriend’s chest. “Ricky?…” She yawned, speaking in that voice that would tell him she wanted something.
“Hmm?” He purred, his eyes batting open to look at her as he was between sleep and wake.
“Can you please turn the heat on?” She asked, grazing her thumb over his jutted-out bottom lip. “I’m freezing.”
He pouted. “Gina, I’m hot.” He groaned. “It’s super hot in here, can I just grab you another blanket and turn the AC up to 70?” When she didn’t reply he added, “Please?” Just for good measure. She knew his eyes were closed so he wouldn’t have to see her puppy eyes reflecting in the moonlight.
Adult relationships are all about compromise. She pursed her lips. He did seem restless and hot— plus he wasn’t wearing a shirt anymore. It wouldn’t be long before he lost the blue striped pajama pants too and resorted to sleeping in his boxers. “Okay.” She settled; this was a near-nightly thing for them. He was always too hot and she was always too cold. “Can you grab the fuzzy pink one?” Still, she couldn’t picture herself sleeping next to anyone else for the rest of her life in their cozy brownstone apartment.
He smiled at her. “Of course, I can.” He replied, gently pressing a kiss to her forehead before he got up to walk to the hallway closet where they kept all their blankets.
She’d never forget when he gifted it to her. She couldn’t have been older than seventeen. It was after their very first Halloween party as an official couple, and they had been secretly dating, per her request.
After dancing for hours with everyone, (well really just jumping up and down and flailing around aimlessly, which was sometimes more relaxing than actual dancing) he had pulled her to the side while the music was still jumping around their friends. “I have something for you.” He murmured into the dark closet they were in. She couldn’t see much— just the bridge of his nose and she could make out the curve of his mouth and smile, but not much else.
Maybe it was for the best because the memory reminded her of seeing an angel in the point of her dreams that were the sweetest. It felt surreal; it was all frosted when she looked back at it. “Oh?” She responded as his warm hands held hers. She wanted to ask him where it was, but she couldn’t focus. The blood coursed raggedly through her veins at the thrill of hiding away in the dark, especially after making such longing eye contact for an hour or two across their crowd of friends.
“Yeah… It’s around here somewhere…”
“Maybe we should turn on the light?” She whispered, still finding it hard not to smile as he searched around the closet.
“The light switch is on the outside of the closet.” You’d think after living here for a couple of months at this point she’d know that information, but it warmed her heart that Ricky was getting to know her house too. It almost felt like… (and this might be a thought she was having way too soon) one day that could be them in a house of their own. “Plus, if we turn the lights on everyone will know someone is in here.” Then he took his voice down even lower. “We gotta keep this really lowkey, Gina. I can’t have my girlfriend finding out I’m in a closet with a girl dressed like a kitty cat.” He was smiling. She could barely see his face but she knew he had a wicked grin on it.
She placed her hands on his chest. “Then I guess we can’t let her find out about this .” She leaned into him and pressed a slow kiss to his lips.
As they pulled away he dreamily said, “ Definitely can’t tell her about that,” his arms came to snake up around her waist and pull her closer to him, so that she was resting flush against his chest. Then he lowered himself to meld against her body, placing his head on her shoulder and pulling her as close as possible, her fingers finding their way into his hair and massaging his scalp gently— she tried to ignore his soft groan at the contact. “I think I enjoy hugging you more than anything else in the world.” He whispered to her, his mouth being right near her ear sending a ripple of delicious shivers down her spine.
“Even than kissing me?”
He pulled back from her shoulder to try to look at her in the dim closet. “Don’t make me choose. Please . Choosing sounds like my own personal hell.”
“Ricky, there are people dying .” She replied in a quiet compelling voice as she joked.
“Well, when you put it like that… Kissing you. I choose to kiss you.”
“Hmm… Me too. Although going without your hugs does sound like hell.” She giggled.
He grinned. She could tell he was grinning by the way he pressed a firm squeeze into either side of her waist. “Now for your gift.” He dug around in the closet more until he finally whispered, “Aha! I would tell you to close your eyes but it’s already pretty dark in here.” As he said it he placed something in her hands.
Something soft and folded that had a big ribbon tied around it. “Ricky… Is this… A blanket?” She asked, smiling as she looked up at him.
“I just nodded.”
She ran her fingers over the fluffy material. “It’s so soft…” She murmured.
“I know you’re always cold in the car whenever I pick you up so… I figured I’d get you a blanket for the car… You know… So you’re not cold anymore, and I don’t have to suffer in the warmest air ever.”
She smiled. That seemed to be all she could do when she was with Ricky. “Thank you, baby,” she uttered as she dropped the blanket to kiss him like there was no tomorrow.
Somehow it was like he could see the future. “Thank you, baby,” she whispered into the darkness of their room as he handed her the blanket and crawled back into their bed.
“No problem, love.” He kissed her forehead again. They faced each other, just looking at each other until Ricky drifted off to sleep again.
Sometimes they did that in the middle of the night. They would wake up especially in an instance like this, when they were still hazy from sleeping— never was it planned, but something about it made Gina feel fulfilled.
Ricky used to fall asleep in her bed when they were teenagers, too. He’d sneak into her room, and they’d watch movies and talk so late that sometimes they ended up sleeping too. One time in the middle of the night, a night that was not too long after they came back from camp, Gina had woken up bleary-eyed to Ricky, who was watching her thoughtfully and holding her close.
“You watching me sleep like a creeper, Bowen?” She asked, wiping her eyes and you guessed it, smiling.
“If watching you sleep is creepy then call me Joe Goldberg because I do it pretty often if I have the opportunity… That sounded a lot less creepy in my head I swear.”
She nodded, trying to suppress her laugh, “If you’re Joe then I’m Love.”
“You are love. You’re what I know about love.” He grinned and Gina laughed like he made the joke of the year.
“You’re never gonna let that one go, huh?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Hmm… Not really.” She liked his corny jokes and being what he knew about love because he was her definition of love. He completely changed that for her.
“Well, that’s good, because I was never letting it go regardless.” He replied. She pushed herself up a little just to press a kiss to his temple.
She took this time to mock him. “Because sometimes it’s just hard not to say what you feel, huh?” She asked in her best Ricky voice.
“Wow, you’re getting better and better at sounding like me!”
“Why thank you!” She exclaimed.
She loved thinking about moments like that because it reminded her that her dreams of waking up to Ricky back then weren’t as far-fetched as she had originally thought.
She almost felt like every moment in her life had led her up to this point; laying next to the only man she had ever loved in their very own brownstone in the Upper East Side (that they were somehow affording despite the crazy taxes and rent), while she had her dream job (she was currently on Broadway), and they had their own little family of a cat and dog (they finally felt they were responsible enough to handle a puppy, and their cat had been with them for about three years now already).
“I love you.” She whispered as she watched him sleep, his side gently rising and falling with every breath. “I love you so much.” She inched closer to him, trying not to wake him up. “You’re my favorite thing about going to sleep and my favorite thing about waking up in the morning.” She brushed her hands through the front of his hair and he stirred gently but didn’t wake up. “Goodnight, Ricky.” She whispered, pressing two drawn-out kisses to his forehead before turning over and going to sleep.
♡
When Gina woke up in the morning Ricky was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at something on his phone. “Ricky?” She grumbled as she sat up. “What are you looking at?”
“Carlos invited us to a reunion a couple of days ago. I just checked my email and saw it.”
“A reunion?” She asked, crawling over to look over his shoulder. “When is it?”
“Next week Saturday.”
“Has it been ten years since we graduated high school already?”
“No way. It hasn’t even been ten years since we started dating, yet.”
She smiled. “Only three years left.” She squeezed his shoulders. “Seven years strong baebee ! Who’s stopping us? Whoo!” She whooped, throwing herself back on their bed.
“Yeah…” He replied when normally he probably would’ve laughed and joined in.
She shot up immediately because he only used that tone whenever he was unsure about something. “What’s wrong?” She inquired, not budging him to look back at her because she knew sometimes he could be slower to express himself with his words.
“I just… I don’t think I want to go back to Salt Lake… Is that bad?” He asked turning back to look at her.
“I thought… I thought Carlos lived in California now…”
“He does, but he went back to visit his parents and now he’s getting all nostalgic…”
“Oh…” She bit at the corner of her mouth. “Then we don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” She replied, slithering into his lap. “We can always see Carlos when he comes to New York, and we see Kourtney all the time!” Kourtney lived in New York just like the two of them did, in Manhattan. She did makeup and hair for movies and occasionally did theater here and there so she’d get to keep singing. The three of them met up for brunch (they’re such adults) almost all the time, and secretly they all relished in the familiarity of it. It felt good from time to time. Especially when friends from East High would visit New York.
“Yeah, you’re right. Aren’t Maddox and Ashlyn coming in from Pennsylvania sometime soon?” Gina asked; the two of them currently lived on the go.
Ashlyn had a wonderfully impulsive thought about touring all around the United States and living in a remodeled tour bus, and Maddox was comfortable and happy anywhere she was. They seemed to be thoroughly enjoying every new place they stumbled upon. Ashlyn always sent Gina pictures whenever they went somewhere new with some cute and cheesy message like, “ Missing my favorite sister while I stand under all of these misters!” (A message from when they visited Mount Rushmore.)
Then Gina would send her back a picture of her and Ricky in bed, or her and Ricky at the movies, or her and Ricky and Kourtney in Times Square, or maybe at her alone at work and say, “I can’t wait till I see you again!” Ashlyn was probably the only person she ever sent that message to in her entire life that made her feel the sentiments so deeply. For others and usually for her, she might not have meant them much but with Ash she always did. Living at the Caswells was the first stable family life she had ever had, and she’d always cherish that and miss the days that she lived with her chosen sister.
While she loved Ash, she didn’t think she could ever live the life she was living, always moving around. Even if she did have a permanent home on wheels, that wasn’t what Gina needed. After years of constantly being on the go and the move, Gina craved a certain level of monotony.
Coming home after a hard day and seeing Ricky on the couch watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S and snuggling up with Bunny (their cat) and Kitty (their dog. It was Ricky’s idea to name them after other animals) was her favorite part of the day.
She liked having something she knew would never change. Even if they got a new place, got different jobs, or added another furry friend or even a child or two to the equation. Even if they faced so many ups and downs and changes all around them from the left and the right.
None of that would matter in the long run because she knew that whenever she came home Ricky would be there waiting for her with a bowl of candy and popcorn, open arms, a remote, and some new stupid show they were gonna watch till their eyes were shutting down on them. While trying new and different things was fun from time to time, after a childhood of nothing being stable she enjoyed her support system in Ricky. He was her home on wheels. Or legs. Whatever sounded the least cheesy or weird.
“Yeah. I think they’re hitting New Jersey first though. At least that’s what Maddox said last week when Jet added me to their Facetime call by accident— Pennsylvania then New Jersey. I’m kinda happy he did add me though. Did I tell you the three of us Facetime on my lunch hour now?”
“Really? That’s cool.” She brushed his hair back as she looped her arms around him. “So… Do you think he’ll come to New York anytime soon?”
“And risk running into Kourtney? Hell no.”
Gina scrunched up her nose. “Was it really that bad?”
“He won’t even tell Maddox what happened between them, so I’m assuming so. Do you think you can get it out of Kourt?”
“I can try… Maybe text Nini and see if she told her?” Nini and Ricky also texted regularly. Just to update each other on their lives and other small things like that. Her music career gained some traction, but she wasn’t a massive star yet. Although she didn’t seem to mind much— all she seemed to love was making music and chasing everything she had always wanted. Ricky told Gina that Nini had said to him once that her destination didn’t matter much to her anymore. All she could keep her eyes on was her journey. That stuck with Gina more than she thought it would.
Ricky had also insisted on showing Gina their messages from top to finish and detailing all of their phone conversations from Ricky telling Nini about his private school music teacher gig to Nini telling him about her vacation in Santo Domingo with some of her friends from college (pictures included). Once he even offered to record their phone calls in case Gina wanted to listen back to them (Gina couldn’t stop laughing when he suggested something that absurd).
She had promised she didn’t mind that they spoke and that she didn’t even want to read the messages between them in the first place because she trusted him. He confessed that he just didn’t want anything to ever ruin what they had. She replied that nothing ever could.
Although she could understand his worry. They both had parents whose relationships hadn’t worked out, even if there wasn’t any cheating involved. His special caution just made him all the more endearing.
“That’s a good idea. You try with Kourt and I’ll ask Nini, okay?”
Gina nodded her head and kissed his forehead sweetly. “Deal.” It was so stupid but she loved when they came up with plans like this. Little cute operations. It just cemented the team mentality they already had when it came to each other. She and Ricky against the world.
“Deal.” He repeated. “Would you like some coffee this morning Ms. Porter?”
She placed a peck on his lips. “I’d love that.”
“So… Should I tell Carlos we can’t make it?” He asked, picking her up with ease as he stood and putting her down gently.
“Yeah. Tell him.” She replied.
“Okay. Will do.” He smiled before walking away.
As he left their bedroom she walked around to her phone and went to look at the invite Carlos sent out for herself— it was one of those where you had to RSVP and you could see everyone who had already done so and would be there. As she scrolled down the list she soon realized that literally everyone from their friend circle would be there; even Nini! She kept scrolling; Kourtney and Jet? In the same room?! She wondered how Carlos pulled it off, but then she remembered that he’s always had a way with words… and threats.
It seemed like the only two people who weren’t going to be there were herself and Ricky. She bit her lip pensively. No. It didn’t matter. Ricky really didn’t want to go, and she didn’t want him to be uncomfortable because they were a team. That was what she decided as she abandoned her phone to go into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.
She had never been more glad that it was Saturday, and that she had taken a day off than when she smelt waffles wafting through the air as she walked to the kitchen. “Smells good.” She murmured as she hugged him from behind while he stood at the waffle maker.
He gasped. “Am I being mugged?!”
She pulled him away from the island by his waist amidst his laughing. “Give me your money and no one has to get hurt!” She yelled.
“I don’t have any I swear!” He yelled, but then he followed it up with, “But I can give you all my love and affection, though.” As he turned and kissed her cheek.
She giggled, and as her laughter slowed, she asked, “Ricky? Why don’t you want to go back to Salt Lake?” He tensed beneath her.
“I… I guess I’m not ready to relieve the past.” He whispered. “And I’m not ready for everyone to ask us why we’re not married yet, and why we haven’t started a family and… I don’t know… I like it here in New York. I don’t want to go back.” Seems as though Salt Lake used to be familiar Ricky still hated a change of pace…
She chuckled. “Ricky we aren’t moving back there… We’d just be going back for a couple of days, maybe a week at most…” She searched his eyes as she spoke like she would find his reasoning in them. “And who cares if people ask why we aren’t married—”
“I care.” He muttered. “Do you… Do you think we’ve been dating too long? Are you ready to get married, Gi?” He asked as he took her hands between his.
“I don’t know… Are you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know either. I just know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Okay, and I feel the same way. When we’re ready to get married I think we’ll just know… So it doesn’t matter until we know what we want, alright? Who cares what everyone else thinks?” He nodded, but he didn’t seem very convinced as his eyes left hers and were downcast. “ I’m very proud of our life here, and I say our life because it’s yours and mine… It’s ours. We have two beautiful fur babies and are paying for an expensive ass apartment in the city where we’ve made our home, doing jobs that we love . I’m proud of us, Ricky.” She kissed his lips.
“Can I be honest?”
“Of course. Always.”
“I love you, Gina.”
Her eyebrows contorted. “... Okay.”
He took a deep breath. “Sometimes I think I’m holding you back. From like… Your full potential… Or whatever you wanna call it.”
She unplugs the waffle maker (they’ve had a similar accident before and she wasn’t going to let it happen again) and guides them over to the couch immediately and as he sits she asks gently, “Baby, how long have you felt this way?” She crossed her legs under her as she watched him intently.
“I go in and out of feeling it… I just… Sometimes I think about how you could’ve been a big movie star back in the day, and I wonder if… If being with me stopped you from doing that. I’m just worried that if we go back home you’ll remember everything and see it all clearly and then you’ll realize that it’s been me that’s been holding you from… going after what you want. And then… you’ll leave me.” He shrugged, and when he finished she melted at how she saw the same teenage boy she had fallen in love with all those years ago in this now-grown man.
No matter how much he had grown, and even changed despite hating change, he still had parts of him that were afraid of being left behind. Parts of him that thought they weren’t good enough to be anyone’s first choice or priority, and while that pained her it also brought some relief. Because deep inside there were still some parts of her that were afraid of being left behind with broken and empty promises, too. She knew that because they both understood that feeling they’d never be the ones to do that to each other. Ricky and Gina would always be for each other, and if need be, against the whole world.
All she wanted to do was climb in his lap— or a silly thought, pull him into hers and cocoon him away from everyone, hugging him close to her so that he could see just how much she never wanted to leave him. She needed even the smallest parts of him to understand that she could never imagine her life without him consuming most parts of it. She needed him to understand that even the parts he wasn’t in (which is pretty hard to find, because they lived together and were far too damn comfortable with each other now) she would find a way to include him. All her coworkers knew about her boyfriend Ricky. Shit, even her Uber drivers knew about Ricky.
“Ricky… Salt Lake isn’t home.” She huffed with a smile on her face. “Sure, it’s a place where I feel at home. A familiar place, but it wouldn’t feel like that if I had never met you . If it wasn’t for you I never would’ve opened up. I never would’ve made friends or fought to stay. Ricky, when you started going out with Nini again I immediately wanted to move , because I couldn’t imagine home being a place where you’re not my person. You are home. With you, I feel the most loved, the most stable, the most cared for.” She took a breather, clasping his hands between hers and into her lap. He was staring up at her like the time they had that conversation outside the barn that was about EJ… at least she thinks it was, but the way he was looking at her made her feel like the only person that ever existed.
She continued, “I passed on the opportunity to be a movie star because a life of high-status celebrity and moving around from place to place and having homes all over the world was what the old Gina wanted. The old Gina that had no friends, and was always so closed off because she was scared. This Gina… just wants to do whatever makes her feel the most, loved, the most stable, and the most cared for. And right now, that’s being Nala in the freakin’ Lion King on Broadway, having greasy fast food with my co-stars, meeting my college friends occasionally, and most of all, coming home to my goofy loving boyfriend on the couch and watching garbage reality TV.” She laughed, and this made him smile, and press a kiss to her lips.
“And the second that changes you’ll tell me?”
“I’ll tell you before my brain even has a chance to tell the rest of my body.” She grinned.
He pressed another kiss to her mouth. “Good.”
“Will you tell me if you ever worry about that again?”
“Yes. Without a doubt.” He pressed a kiss to the hand that he was holding.
“Will you tell me if you get tired of New York?”
“Are you planning on leaving the state any time soon?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll never get tired of New York. I’m a creature of habit, baby.” He leaned forward to kiss her lips again. “Except I do think we need to change our Chinese food spot. They changed the cook and now all the food has way too many vegetables in it.”
“We need a place with fewer vegetables .” She nodded. “Got it. Keep your eyes open for one, Bowen.”
“You know I will.” He grinned.
“So… Do you think… Maybe we can go to the reunion then?” She tried not to let her pout out immediately. “I checked the already RSVP’d list and Carlos got Jet and Kourtney to go.”
“Both of them?! Oh, this we gotta see! RSVP for us Gi, we’re going to Salt Lake! Whoop whoop!” Finally, he cheered on his own prompting her to join in along with him, and him picking her up bridal style and spinning her.
“I think if we didn’t Carlos would have our heads from here.” Gina giggled.
“He definitely would’ve.”
“Especially since we’re the only people from theater that haven’t RSVP’d yet. I would’ve expected a call soon.” Gina grunted as Ricky sat back down on the couch, her still in his arms.
“We’re the only ones?!”
“Yup. Even EJ is going. And get this, he’s bringing a plus one.”
“Ooh, who do we think it is? The blonde from his IG story the other day or the redhead from his reels?”
Gina scrunched up her nose. “You don’t think the brunette was a contender? The one from his IG live that Kourtney sent us a screenshot of in the group chat and said, ‘ How is it possible that all these women are interested in EJ Caswell, much less black women?’”
“The girl with the box braids or the girl with the afro?”
“Wow, having to help me pick hairstyles for seven years has paid off, huh?”
“After finding out what your braids were called at camp from Kourtney, box braids haven’t left my head. I think when you spun around to look at me and they hit me in my eyes that was when I fell in love.” He shrugged and she shoved him playfully. “I think I almost said out loud, ‘Hit me in my eyes again you beautiful angel.’”
“Right.” She guffawed, but she couldn’t stop blushing. It was so crazy how after almost a decade of knowing each other he could still make her blush like a little girl.
“I was seconds away from it Gina, I swear. And nothing has changed, it’s just now I’m allowed to blurt compliments to you at random times without it being weird.”
She kissed his cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“But we’re getting off track. I’m talking about the girl with the afro. What about her?”
“That was too long ago, though. Nearly a month.” EJ hadn’t had a steady relationship since she and he broke up. At least it didn’t seem like it— she didn’t really keep in contact with him, nor did he seem to want to. It was almost like as soon as they weren’t involved romantically anymore he just lost interest in her completely. While it kinda hurt at first that they weren’t friends anymore, with time it started not to matter at all really.
“You’re right. I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” She shrugged.
“I can't believe I almost passed up on going to this reunion. Seeing everyone is gonna be a blast. At the very least we know it’ll be entertaining.”
“Personally I’m still stuck on Jet and Kourt in the same room, but that’s just me.”
“I gotta see that, honestly. Who else is on the guest list?”
“Lily’s on the list.”
“Why?”
“Maybe Carlos thought it would be funny.” Gina shrugged. “Howie and Antoine are on the list too.”
“Okay, Carlos must be feeling really nostalgic because now he’s just inviting everyone we know that was remotely in the Salt Lake area that the same time we were.”
“He invited Mr. Bleu too. And Channing, and Val…”
“Sounds like this is gonna be a mess .” Ricky laughed as they headed back into the kitchen to eat.
“A mess that we have a front-row seat to.” Gina kissed his cheek before going to take two plates out of the dishwasher for their waffles.
♡
Ricky grabbed Gina’s suitcase off the conveyor belt as soon as he saw the pink bag come around. “Wow, I have such a big strong boyfriend.” She grinned as she pulled the bag closer towards her as they waited for his to come down.
Then he kissed his bicep. “You know it.” She couldn’t help but laugh more as his own made its way down. They had flown in Thursday night so that they’d have some time to spend in Salt Lake before going back home— the whole weekend. “I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in Salt Lake.” He replied as they walked out of the airport with their bags in hand; the last time they had been back they had stayed in Mr. Bowen’s apartment. Now that they were older and not broke college students they got a hotel.
“Hm. I don’t think I have either.”
“Well, I guess this will be a new experience that we get to have together.”
“Just how I like my new experiences. With a side of Ricky.”
“Aw shucks.” He kissed her forehead as they got out onto the street waiting to catch a cab.
Their hotel was better than they thought it was going to be. Even compared to their New York standards. “You think they take a lot of time to make the doves out of towels?” Ricky asked as he flopped back on their bed.
“Nah. They probably have a towel artist.”
“You think there’s someone who’s employed strictly to fold towels into animals? That might be a cool job.”
“Yeah, until someone’s kid is afraid of doves and now you’ve given them trauma for the rest of their lives.”
“… Okay, maybe I don’t want to be a towel artist.”
“You can be a towel artist in our home! I’m sure Bunny and Kitty would appreciate the towels that look like them.”
“… You think they’re okay with Angelina?”
“Yeah. I’m sure Kitty is having the time of her life with Angelina’s puppies. Bunny on the other hand is probably hiding under Angelina’s bed.”
“Accurate assumption.” He shrugged. “…We should probably get to bed soon huh?” He stretched as he stated.
“Probably… But not before we make a pillow fort and watch movies!” Ricky grinned, and Gina was sure he was remembering the Porter family hotel tradition where Gina and her mom do that very same thing in every hotel room across the country that they’ve been in. Ricky was family. She didn’t mind including him in traditions; what she did have to fight was the urge to bring up starting traditions when they decided to expand their family with little human beings.
“Let’s do it, princess,” he replied when his phone started ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and answered immediately. “Hey, Dad! Yeah, Gina and I just landed… Well not just, more like an hour and some ago…… Yeah, she’s okay… Dad, I said—” He sighed and rolled his eyes at whatever Mike was saying. “Gina, Dad wants to hear that you’re okay from you.” He rolled his eyes again playfully as he put the phone on speaker.
“Hey, Gi! Are you doing okay?” Mr. Bowen asked.
“Hey, Mike! I’m doing alright!”
“Do you need anything? I can bring some food to the hotel if you need food.”
“No, I’m okay!”
“Hey! You never asked me if I needed food!”
“My daughter-in-law comes first, son, sorry.” He joked. It had startled Gina the first time he used that phrase to describe her a year back, but not in a bad way. She just never thought that she’d be so deep in a relationship with someone that their family would acknowledge her as family because they were together.
When it happened, Ricky blushed a deep shade of red and told his father that he would only call Gina his daughter-in-law if she and Ricky were married. He replied, “Well, it’s kinda like you already are, and Gina’s like a daughter to me anyway. Is it weird that I’m calling you that, Gina?” He asked slightly alarmed as he looked between them.
“Not at all!” Gina replied. “I… Like the idea of being a part of the Bowen clan.” She smiled. She really did. “But only because Ricky has a super cool dad.” She shrugged.
Mike put his arm around Gina. “Well consider yourself family, Gina, because that’s how I see you.”
Gina loved the idea of being a Bowen.
She still did even now. “Well, I guess that’s fair.” Ricky shrugged. “We’ll talk to you later, Dad.”
“Talk to you later, Rick. Love you!”
“Love you too!”
“Love you, Mike!”
“Love you, Gina! And Ricky don’t forget, Bowen family barbecue tomorrow! Nonna’s expecting to see you and Gi!”
“Okay— Wait what?!” Ricky asked.
“Ricky, don’t tell me you forgot. We talked about this on the phone three days ago!”
“Shit! We did!”
“Can you guys make it?”
“We aren’t really doing anything tomorrow, so we should be able to…” Ricky rubbed the back of his neck as he answered looking up at Gina for some type of confirmation in her face.
“Great! I’ll see you two then!”
“See you then! Give Hanna our love!” Gina commented— Hanna was Mike’s new wife. He had liked her so much when they were dating, but what sealed the deal for Mike was the fact that Ricky had warmed up to her so quickly. Hanna was so sweet to both him and Gina, baking (which made Gina love her immediately), and she was a Math professor so she always offered to help them when they needed it in college. She always sent (loads of) money for birthdays and Christmas ever since she was just dating Mike. She had been more than sweet to both of them, but most of all, Mike loved her, and she loved him.
“Will do! Bye, kids.”
As soon as his dad hung up the phone, Ricky apologized, “Sorry, Gi. I totally forgot about the barbecue… Are you sure you wanna go?”
“Of course I do! What will be the alternative? Not going and disappointing Nonna? No way! I think I’m working my way up to being her favorite grandchild!”
“Is it sad that I think that’s true?”
”No, because it is.” She shrugged. “I’m gonna go wash this airport off of me, start building the fort?
“Yes ma’am!” He gave her a mock salute, and she went into her suitcase to take out what she needed for her shower.
Secretly, she was happy that there was a barbecue to be had— she loved being around Ricky’s family. They were all so loving and welcomed her with open arms as if she was one of their own. As far as she had known, her family was nowhere near as big as Ricky’s. Although Ricky’s father only had one child, his mother had eight, so Ricky had a lot of cousins and extended family.
Gina had never gotten to experience family barbecues, or even bonding with her family past the movies, the park, or some other small activities because it had only been the two of them for so long. Sometimes three if Jamie decided to tag along. She enjoyed the togetherness that his extended family had, and even more than that she enjoyed how close it made her feel to Ricky. The closer and more interwoven she got with Ricky, the more she felt open and honest with herself. The more she felt in touch with her desires, the more she felt familial bonds.
While New York was a nice change of pace and was home to her now, Salt Lake would always own a piece of her heart.
♡
Gina didn’t think she had ever seen so much food in her entire life (and because Mike’s side of the family was Italian she was no longer worried about how it would taste). Even more, than that, Gina didn’t think she’d ever eaten this much food in her entire life. When the barbecue started, she and Ricky had been walking around from family member to family member to catch up, because she and Ricky hadn’t been back in Salt Lake for almost three years; they came back when he graduated. Then a year later she graduated, they got settled in their lives and that was that.
Mike and Hanna always came to them in December because they loved the idea of Christmas in New York. Thanksgiving was always when Terri and Jamie would come from wherever they were to celebrate with Ricky and Gina. Some years it would only be Terri, and once it was only Ricky, Gina, and Kourtney, but it was still perfect. It always was to Gina once she had her little family there.
All their friends were spread out across the country, some even on different continents now, so they could see them elsewhere. The only people left in Salt Lake were Red and Seb, who Gina was pretty sure had something going on after the last conversation she had heard between Red and Ricky, which was both elusive and divulging.
It was safe to say they hadn’t been around in a while.
“Ricky! You’ve gotten so big!” His aunt, Ramona squeezed his cheeks as he walked up to her, pulling Gina along by her hand. “Gina! I’m so happy you’re still dating her. How long has it been?”
“Seven years,” Ricky replied.
“Seven? And you’re not planning on getting married?” Aunt Ramona sounded shocked, stunned even.
“We are, eventually, just not at the moment.” He chuckled awkwardly.
“Oh. Well, I guess everyone does things differently right?” She smiled.
“Right.” Gina smiled back.
“Ramona! I need help, come stir this pot for me!” One of Ricky’s other aunts called from the kitchen.
“It’s so good to see you kids.” She smiled again before walking off to the house.
Before she and Ricky had a chance to regroup together, another family member was walking up to them. “Gina!” Ricky’s little cousin greeted them as she engulfed her in a hug.
“Hey, Theresa!” Gina smiled at the fourteen-year-old.
“Hey, Ricky.” She hugged him, but a lot less enthusiastically.
“Let’s not forget you’re my cousin, Ther.” Ricky jested. “If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t even know Gina.”
“That’s true.” She shrugged. “Gina, wanna paint each other’s nails later?”
“Sure.” Gina giggled.
“Okay, yay!” She replied with a smile before walking off toward another one of their cousins.
As they greeted different family members they were asked a whole host of questions about New York, and their jobs, and their pets, maybe one more question about getting married and having kids, but that was it. Some family members even asked if they could be their tour guides when they came out to visit New York. Of course, Gina was more than happy to say yes. She loved Ricky’s family. She loved that they all accepted her like their family too. Seeing this part of Ricky’s life only made her love him more than she already did, and that was pretty damn hard to do considering she’d already decided she wanted to be with him forever.
As the questions, mostly welcomed, flowed, Nonna spoke from a comfortable beach chair under one of the large tents with shade. “Gina! Can you come here?”
“Yes, of course, Nonna!” She could hear Ricky’s cousins that were closer to their ages oooooo’ing lightly to tease her as she walked over, and she had to suppress the playful eye roll as she walked over.
When she sat, Nonna said, “Just wanted to save you from all the questions.” She smiled.
She almost admitted she didn’t mind most of the questions, but then she realized how much she liked Nona’s gesture and decided to keep it to herself. “Thank you.”
For almost the entire duration of the rest of the barbecue, she had been sitting next to Nonna, and she had been regaling her with tales of Ricky’s childhood and her and her husband’s early life in Italy before they moved here, and Gina was loving every second of it.
So far she had learned a lot, but what stuck out was that their family name wasn’t originally Bowen. They changed it once they got here in America. Ricky will only eat gelato if Nonna or one of his aunts makes it. He’s only been to Italy once when he was eight. Ricky is named after his late grandfather, Ricardo, (who changed his name to Richard once he came here). Nonna still has their wedding rings inside the house, locked away in a chest in her room. Lynne is decidedly not her favorite person (which was fine, because she wasn’t Gina’s either).
“So what do you think of the food, Gi? Is it okay if I call you Gi?” Ricky’s Nonna asked, still with little pangs of an Italian accent as she spoke.
“More than okay, Nonna.” She smiled.
His grandma laughed. “I just never know whether to call you Gina or Gi! Or how about Gigi? Do you like Gigi?”
“Gigi is cute. My mom calls me that.”
“Well I’m your Nonna, so I’ll call you Gigi then!” She replied and then laughed, which made Gina laugh because her little wheezy laugh was so funny and cute. Gina felt all fuzzy at the idea of being so close with a grandparent, even if she wasn’t biologically hers.
Gina smiled as she watched Ricky run across the yard with one of his younger cousins on his back, the others running behind them and yelling something at him. “He’s so good with kids.” She faintly said, but when she realized she said it out loud, it was too late.
“Most Bowens usually are,” Nonna replied. “He’s a good boy, my Ricky.” She smiled fondly. “I remember back when he was younger and he used to bring that Neni girl around the barbecues—”
“Wait, you mean Nini?”
“Yes, her! Sweet girl, but…” She shook her head. “I always watched them and I just knew she wasn’t right for him, but I also know my grandson, and he’s just like me when it comes to leaving things behind. We… both have a hard time letting go of the past…” She shook her head again like she was remembering something. “I’m just glad that he let her go eventually. Because if he didn’t… He never would’ve found you. ” Nonna grabbed Gina’s hand and squeezed it. “I hope you know you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”
“I wouldn’t say the best—”
“Well, I damn sure would! The Ricky I knew would’ve never been living in New York and teaching and branching out to do all these things like he has been doing with you. And he loves you. That’s what’s most important. You push him to be his very best, and something tells me he does the same for you.” She winked.
Gina looked back at him on the lawn of Ricky’s uncle’s house, running around, all his little cousins and laughing. Watched him having fun with his family and just taking in the atmosphere of it all. Sitting next to his grandmother, and taking in her words. That was when she realized she knew.
She wanted to marry Ricky.
“I want to marry him.” She uttered, but this time she meant to say it out loud. She wanted to hear the way it sounded coming from her lips. “Not in some distant future but… soon. Really soon.” And right at that moment, he looked up at her, nodding his head gently, just like he had done when they couldn’t keep her eyes off of each other on New Year’s all those years ago.
She was sure her face reflected teenage Gina. In love. Unequivocally in love with Ricky Bowen.
“Tell him.” His grandmother whispered back. Then she joked, “I hope I’m gonna be invited. I want to see my favorite grandchild get married!”
“Of course, you’re gonna be invited! Ricky would never let you miss that.”
“I didn’t mean him, I meant you!” She laughed, and Gina laughed, and nothing could erase or tarnish this moment of love. She was gonna ask Ricky to marry her.
“Um… Nonna? Do you think I can ask you a big favor?” Gina bit her lips pensively.
“What is it, Gigi?”
“It’s a little… big.”
“Ask.” She prompted.
“Do you think… Do you think it would be too much of me to ask you for Ricky’s grandpa’s ring?” She whispered.
“I want… I want to propose to him.”
“Nothing would make me happier than to give you Ricardo’s ring, Gina.” She smiled wistfully, and Gina looked back out on the lawn at her future fiancè, who was currently being pelted at by teenagers and preteens with water balloons.
♡
Gina was nervous. She had been buzzing with anticipation the whole day as she and Ricky did small things, like going to the mall and the movies before the reunion tonight. She was trying to find the perfect time to propose but nothing felt quite right.
“You think Carlos is gonna be mad that we’re late?” Ricky asked from their hotel bed, probably scrolling through Instagram in his dress clothes as he waited for Gina to finish getting ready.
“Yeah, but it’s fine.” She replied as she applied some setting powder to her face. As she continued to work she realized that Ricky had been staring at her for a longer amount of time than usual. She turned back to look at him. “You’re staring again, baby. Is it the new foundation? It’s great coverage right?” She joked as she made kissy faces at him. Before she could stop making faces he got up and walked over to her, kissing her lips softly again and again.
“You’re so beautiful.” He pecked her lips again. “And the only reason I’m not grabbing your face and kissing you harder is because I don’t want to ruin your makeup.” Another kiss to her lips.
“You have pink sparkly lips now, Bowen. Everyone’s gonna know your mine.” She teased, roping her arms around his shoulders, and his hands came up around her waist, resting right below where her crop top ended. She brought him back in for another lingering kiss.
He didn’t say anything for a while. Then he squeezed her sides with parted lips. “Marry me.” He quickly let escape from them.
She didn’t reply at first, because how was it possible that he was reading her mind? Even more than that, how did he beat her to the punch? “No.”
“No?” He pouted, and he looked ridiculously forlorn and adorable.
“ You marry me .” She countered and then pouted to match his. “I wanted to ask first…”
“ You were gonna ask me to marry you?!” She nodded sheepishly, going over to the purse she had used yesterday and pulling out a velvet box before walking back over to him and opening it for him to see. “Is this… Nonno’s ring?” He asked, holding her hands as he watched the golden embellished band in the red velvet cushioning, RB inscribed on the bottom.
“Yes… Nonna agreed to give it to me yesterday.” She replied.
“That’s funny, because…” As he trailed off he walked away and pulled a matching box out from his suitcase, walking back over. “She agreed to give me her ring yesterday.” He opened the box to a beautiful shimmering emerald surrounded by gold and a few studded diamonds.
Gina was in awe of its beauty— she hadn’t gotten to see it when she received the other ring from Nonna and she didn’t know if it was too invasive to ask after she was already getting her late husband’s ring from her. “When did you ask?”
“When we all went inside and I was helping Nonna to bed? I asked her then and she agreed. She took the ring out of the case she had it in and she couldn’t stop laughing and saying how perfect we are for each other… I didn’t get it then, but… I do now!”
Then Gina laughed. “She had already given me your grandpa’s ring by then… Are we really that much alike?”
Ricky smiled. “When did you decide you wanted to marry me?” He whispered.
“Seeing you run around with your cousins in the yard.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “But also… I think I’ve been deciding a little bit every day since I met you.”
“Aw Gina, you’re so poetic.” He placed his hand on his heart as the other came up around her waist again.
“Shut up!” She laughed. “When did you decide?”
“When I saw you sitting with Nonna and talking to her. Sounding so intrigued at everything she said. No one encourages her to talk so much as you were doing. Mainly because everyone has heard each story she’s told a hundred times… I guess I just really like how you get along with my family, how you don’t mind tagging along to these things, and how you’d probably go most places I ask you to. I just know you get how much they mean to me, and now they probably mean that much to you, too.”
“They do. I could listen to Nonna talk all day.”
“Thank you for loving me, Gi.”
“Thank you for loving me .” She pressed another kiss to his lips. “By the way, I heard you didn't like showering.”
“Why would she tell you that?! It… It was only for like a month, Gina, I swear.”
Gina fanned her nose and made her face up like she smelled something stinky. “Was it?”
“I hate you.” He whispered with a smile. “I don’t know. I think part of me has known ever since we started sleeping next to each other at night— since we moved in.”
“Why?”
“Because you always whisper to me in my sleep and say the sweetest things.”
Gina’s face went hot and red. “You’ve… been awake for that?”
He nodded. “Sometimes I pretend to fall asleep first because I wanna hear what nice thing you’re gonna say that night.” He shrugged. “Hearing what you think about me when you think no one is listening has been one of my favorite things over the years, Gi.”
“I hope you know every single thing is true.” She whispered.
“Will you marry me?” He whispered back. “Please?”
“I wanna ask first. It was my idea first—”
“Well not really, you just got the ring first—”
“Because I’m quicker, more efficient if you will—”
“Yeah right, like you could ever be quicker than me—”
“Wanna race right now?”
“Of course, you would wait till I’m wearing some of the fanciest clothes I own to ask me to race, that’s not fair—”
“Okay, then when we come back from the reunion. House clothes on, racing down the hallway. Full speed.”
“When I win don’t start pouting like a loser, Gina.”
“Hey! I don’t pout like a loser! I pout like your girlfriend who loves you very much!”
“Maybe you should pout like my fiancée instead.”
Gina felt a ripple of shivers go down her spine at that word, not unlike the ripple of shivers that went down her spine when he handed her the blanket in the closet on Halloween. “Marry me, Ricky? Make me even more happy than you already do, because now I’ll get to ‘my husband’ and ‘my fiance’ people to death?”
He chuckled. “I’d love to marry you, Gina.” He replied, and she slipped the ring on his left hand.
“Yay!” She jumped up and down, suddenly her veins were bursting with adrenaline as she stopped and turned back around to him on one knee.
“Genevieve Renèe Porter. Will you agree to be stuck with me forever— I mean… be my wife?” He asked with a cheesy stupid grin. She kneeled in front of him so they were on the same level.
“Why would you do this? Now it feels real and I wanna cry because I’m so happy.” She mumbled, trying to wipe her eyes without ruining her makeup.
“Will you marry me, baby?” He whispered, their foreheads nearly touching.
“Of course, I will.” She whispered back, and he smiled as he slipped his grandma’s ring onto her ring finger.
“I love you, Gina.” He whispered, kissing her lips.
“I love you back.” She replied as they leaned out of the kiss. Right now she couldn’t care how much Carlos was going to kill them for being late. She was getting married!
♡
As they walked back into their high school hand in hand, Gina was hit with a hot thick wave of nostalgia, remembering how she and Ricky walked around these halls hand in hand the same way. “I think I understand why coming back here was so… nostalgic for Carlos,” Gina murmured, pulling herself closer to his arm, near his shoulder but not so close that she would mess up her makeup. “Being here just reminds me of all of our beginnings.” Gina released a wistful sigh as they approached the gym.
“I don’t think I realized then, at the skatepark just how much I was going to end up loving and needing you, Gina. But I couldn’t be happier. Really.” He kissed her hand as they stood in front of the gym and outside of the pulsing music. “Ready, fiancèe ?” He asked with a mischievous grin.
“Ready, future husband .” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips.
As they walked inside they were immediately greeted by Natalie Badgley at the door of the gym, who welcomed them with open arms and an excited squeal as she noticed their rings. Then they walked over to one of the tables, the one that held Jet, Maddox, and Ashlyn.
“Gina! Ricky!” Ashlyn screamed, running over and enveloping Gina in a hug, as Maddox hugged Ricky.
“It’s so good to see you guys!” Ricky gushed as he moved on to hug Jet.
“How have you guys been?! How’s it been traveling?!” Gina asked as they made space at the table for them.
“It’s been good,” Maddox spoke up. “I don’t think I’ve ever realized how much I wanted to see the world before I knew Ash. We’re thinking we’re gonna move on to Canada or Mexico after we see all fifty states.” She nodded as she informed them.
“What’s been your guys’ favorite?” Gina asked.
“Getting married in Vegas for sure for me.” Ash chirped.
“I second that.” Maddox smiled.
“I’m still sorry we didn’t say anything to you guys. It was just—”
“Spontaneous.” Ricky, Gina, and Jet all said in unison.
“You can stop apologizing for that, we get it!” Gina confirmed. “Besides, we have another group wedding on the horizon anyway.” She shrugged, reaching for her glass of water with her left hand.
“Oh, my, God! ” Ashlyn yelled. “Oh, my God! When did this happen?!” She asked, reaching forward and admiring the ring.
“It’s a beautiful ring, Gina.” Maddox complimented as they gazed at her hand.
“Um, does no one want to see my ring?!” Ricky wiggled his finger.
“Uh, I do!” Jet grabbed his hand to look at the golden band with its delicate golden arrow pattern. “It’s an amazing ring, really Ricky.”
“We sorta… proposed to each other today… We both had the same idea and… Yeah.” Gina shrugged, looking at Ricky who gave her a smug wink.
“That’s so sweet!” Ashlyn gushed.
“What’s so sweet?” Carlos asked as he walked over with Kourtney and holding hands with EJ… Wait what?!
“Ricky and Gina are engaged!” Ashlyn blurted before either of the fiancès had a chance to say something.
“ Oh, my God!” Carlos screamed, and all else was forgotten and everyone in their group marveled at their rings and the recitation of how it all happened. “Well, I guess I can excuse you two being late if it was because of this.” He beamed.
“Congrats, guys,” EJ said, wrapping his arm around Carlos.
“Okay, since it’s clear no one else is going to address it, I’ll be the one to say it. What the hell happened here ?!” Jet asked, motioning between the two men.
“You know, I had the same question.” Ricky agreed as he placed his hand on Gina’s thigh under the table.
“Oh guys, we’ve been on and off for years since college.” Carlos laughed.
“What?! EJ you never told me?!” Ashlyn exclaimed.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly public information until now.” He defended.
“So… Are you guys like… officially a couple now?” Gina asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess we are. We’ve finally decided to be… exclusive.” Carlos smiled at EJ before turning back to Gina. “This might be a silly question but like… You don’t… care, right?”
Gina looked around. “Me? No! Not at all, Los. I’m happy that you’re happy.” She grabbed and squeezed his hand. “Besides, EJ wasn’t exactly the highlight of my love life… No offense.” She shrugged at him as she leaned into Ricky.
“None taken.” He replied.
As the night progressed, Kourtney and Jet went from angry, to awkward, to speaking, to full belly laughing at whatever the other person was saying, and Gina knew once they got back to New York she was gonna bombard her with questions. Nini arrived, Red and Seb came with pizza and cake, and Miss Jenn even came with Mr. Mazzarra and their son and stayed for a little bit.
Gina felt all warm and fuzzy as she swayed to the music with Ricky— Carlos, being the classic theater kid, had been playing so many show tunes, Disney songs, and other sweet songs with a casual belting vocalist.
Ricky was right about her being here and seeing everything clearly. About everything rushing back to her in one big humongous crash of the past.
But he was wrong about how it would make her feel about it him. Watching the way he was looking at her, the way all their friends were dancing and talking, and seeing everyone all together in the same room only made her appreciate what she had even more.
She couldn’t believe that summer, that semester when she thought getting over Ricky would be easier than she thought. How could she move past him? How could she forget his longing looks? How could she forget those brown crushed eyes at the skatepark when he had been rushing past her? How tender they looked in that ugly orange buggie on Homecoming night?
Ricky Bowen had never been an uncertainty to her— before him, she was overtly pessimistic, and even now she was an overthinker, but with him, there was never anything to overthink. He had always been an automatic yes. In any situation, at any time, no matter how hard she tried to fight it when he was still dating Nini.
He had always been her yes. Even when he dorkly thrashed his body around and yelled “Twinsies!” When she needed someone to show up and he did it without question, dropping everything else in the process. He put her first. Just like she did for him.
Give and take and comprise. They had the makings of an adult relationship as teenagers.
“Hey. Did you know we’re gonna spend the rest of our lives together?” She whispered in his ear.
He kissed the corner of her mouth. “Our life, remember?”
“Yeah. Our life.” She replied, dropping her head onto his shoulder as they swayed in the middle of their high school gymnasium.
No matter what else changed, Gina would always have this. This home they created of simply the word, yes.