It certainly wasn't a tale as old as time.
Girl watches boy audition for the musical, readily becomes intrigued, Girl uses boy to get other girl to abandon the musical, the plan fails. Boy insults girl, she claps back and they understand each other better than anyone else. They become friends, he spins her around and she can't breathe. Then it all falls apart when she inevitably leaves and all she can do is pine over him at New Year's Eve parties while he sneaks glances at her with those soft brown eyes.
Gina is learning how to avoid him like the plague and it only serves as a reminder this story is anything but a fairytale. She wasn't a princess trapped in some tower, cowering in fear at promises of friendship and needing Ricky to swiftly come in save her from people wanting to sing audition songs together or co-choreograph a musical.
Gina Porter was a fighter. A fighter staying somewhere for the first time that has absolutely no idea how to handle it and the one person she wanted to talk to about it, she couldn't. She couldn't because every time she looked at him she felt a roller coaster of emotions. Windswept then happiness and the swift plunge into dejection because she'd remember he's with someone else now. He was with one of her friends, and the feeling of guilt is where the ride stopped. That was the part where she avoided Ricky's eyes at all cost while he would do nothing but try and search for hers, it was exhausting.
Avoiding the only real friend she'd made pre-staying at casa de la Caswell was turning out to be harder than she realized. It only became that much more difficult when a snowstorm had apparently boxed the theater kids in the school.
"We're trapped here??" Red questions, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head while he tries to pry the door shut in by the snow. Carlos was holding his Lumiere candelabra as means to navigate the group through the suddenly darkened hallway.
"I'm afraid so." An authoritative voice calls from deep in the hallway. Mr. Mazzara appears as if from the corridors of the hall flashlight in hand.
"Who's gonna feed the cows?" Seb's eyes widen asking the question to himself.
Carlos fixes his boyfriend an incredulous look, "You and those damn cows, we're trapped in our fucking school??" He incredulously replies.
"Language, Carlos. We're in an educational setting." Carlos rolls his eyes in response, "There's no one here!"
"There is no need to yell." Seb replies, shaking his head "Also they get hungry around this time!" He adds, exclaiming in panic while Carlos can only throw his arms up already exhausted with the conversation. He quickly turns back to apologize to his boyfriend now pouting in his arms. The sophomore purses his lips in frustration, and Gina sighs as she looks out through the glass. It looked really bad out there.
"Okay, okay let's not panic." Ashlyn calmly advises her friends, Carlos begins to pace.
"Oh my God, I feel claustrophobic already. I think I'm gonna faint." Red nervously admits through gulps of air, he clutches Ashlyn's arm in an attempt to stand upright.
"Red we're in the hallway, it's okay man there's a lot of space." Ricky reminds him, moving one step closer to him. He rubs his back, caring and attentive as ever. Gina starts to think maybe it wouldn't be so bad in the freezing cold with the snow barreling down on her instead of staying in a space trapped with Ricky Bowen for however long they were in here for.
"Just breathe babe." Ashlyn assures him, gripping his hand in hers.
"Where's EJ?" Gina asks now noting the senior had disappeared amidst the chaos.
"I found him on the second floor. He's going to get blankets from the basement supply closet. it's going to get cold with the power out." Mr. Mazzara addresses them all with his arms crossed.
"We have a basement?" Red asks with a furrowed brow.
"Yes, and we need to get down to the bunker so we're all situated in one area." The teacher replies walking toward the opposite end of the hall, not waiting for the students to follow him. The theater gang looks at each other in question, should we follow him? The answer becomes clear when Mr. Mazzara stops and huffs mid-walk, his eyes spelling impatience they all get the hint to follow.
"Ricky I'll need you to go get the rest of the flashlights in the janitor's closet while we settle in." Mr. Mazzara directs, the junior swiftly nods. "Gina go with him." He adds and Gina literally freezes on the spot, Ricky's suddenly beside her looking just as startled.
"I can go with him." Red offers, Ricky's widened eyes jump from his best friend back to Gina in seconds.
"No I don't want you fainting anywhere near those steps then that's on me. We're all taking the elevator" Mr. Mazzara tells him. "Gina you go with Ricky to get the lights, the rest of you follow me." He says with a tone of finality.
"But I-" Gina doesn't get the chance to finish that sentence when she finds all her friends are huddled in the elevator space and she and Ricky are on the outs, Ashlyn's apologetic eyes find her now stunned gaze as the elevator doors close.
"Well, I guess that just leaves us." Ricky says awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. The pair hadn't talked since she came over to his apartment on Valentine's day and from then on Gina had been more careful to avoid since then because of...reasons.
"Yeah." Gina mutters, huffing out a breath she turns toward the stairs and makes her way up toward the second floor leaving Ricky trailing after her.
Mr. Mazzara was long gone trying to find a first aid kit in case anything happened while they were locked in. The theater kids think it was more so for his benefit than it was there's, they'd all began to sing to settle the nerves, and on the fifth attempt to cover 'party in the USA' with harmonies he'd finally caved saying he couldn't be found personally responsible for a medical emergency without being properly equipt so he promptly left EJ in charge while he took his reprieve to get the first aid kit from the nurses office.
Gina and Ricky had come back from their awkward silent trip from janitor's closet with the lights moments ago, they settled into the hub of the theater kids each paired off in the large room. Ash and Gina were cuddled up together under one of the various blankets while Red and Ricky were on the other end of the room having a conversation of their own.
"I just don't understand why everything is so weird now. It seemed fine when she came over on Valentine's day and now it's like we're right back to when she came back and wouldn't talk to me." Ricky sighs, adjusting the short quilt wrapped around his legs.
"Maybe she needs some space right now for some reason?" Red proposes, clasping his fingers together for warmth.
"From me? Ricky asks as his eyes move to the brunette in question. He'd only gotten more and more confused by the minute when she came over and helped him with the waltz everything seemed fine. They'd confided each other when she came over like they couldn't help but do nearly every time they talked and it had been nice. Ricky had missed her and now it was like he was back to square one with her.
Red's expression turns pensive, "Well-"
"But why?" Ricky interrupts before his best friend could finish. This energy that had been surrounding the aforementioned pair wasn't consistent and that was what was so confusing to him. One minute she's smiling at him at New Years eve and auditions and then she's avoiding speaking to him like he had some contagious illness.
"I don't know dude." Red insists. Admittedly he'd asked Ashlyn about the weird vibes he'd been getting from Ricky and Gina lately but the red headed girl had been tight lipped, saying something about Gina trying to adjust to being back.
"Everyone I'm bored let's play a game." Carlos whines from Seb's lap next to the leg of a prop table. It's all it takes for the otherwise paired off theater kids to band together in a circle. Carlos volunteers his prop candelabra to act as a "campfire".
"You know I could actually make a fire if we needed it. I basically learned it as a boy scout." EJ relays to the group with a mild shrug and proud smile.
"Why does it not surprise me at all you were a boy scout?" Ricky says with a wry smile. The rest of the group fall into laughter with him, then his gaze wanders to Gina's and the smile melts from her expression so fast he has to think whether he imagined it or not.
"He's just got that look." Carlos replies while Seb pulls him closer, nodding in agreement. "Maybe it's the jawline" The blonde mutters and Carlos raises his eyebrows at the thought.
"I remember when you tried to practice that certain skill at your house and the whole neighborhood was nearly evacuated at your young attempt at arson." Ashlyn says fighting a fit of giggles, Red breaks out into a grin and intertwines their hands together underneath the blanket.
"It was mildly contained and it was just my neighbors that were evacuated." EJ adds with an eye roll, Gina can't help but smile at their banter she'd only recently found herself wanting to be a part of as of late. She nudges Ashlyn and the two share a secret smile like they kept a tally between them of who could tease EJ the most, Gina was starting to get good at that game.
"So about that game." Carlos reminds them and the room buzzes with potential ways to pass the time.
"We could probably get a couple wild rounds of truth or dare before Mazzara comes back." EJ suggests and hums along with nods of approval follow.
"I'm sure our song covers will keep him at bay just long enough." Gina adds with a smirk.
"So whose the first brave soul?" Ashlyn asks enthused.
"I'll go." Red volunteers with a nonchalant shrug.
"Truth or dare?" His girlfriend asks, with a teasing smile.
"Dare." Red boldly responds.
"I dare you to jog up and down the hall yelling the lyrics to "fabulous" with..." Ashlyn looks around the mass of clothing in a prop box near her and grabs the first item, "This blue cape on" She finishes with an amused grin.
"I haven't seen HSM 2, though." Red argues.
"Oh just like you didn't see the first movie at your orthodontist?" Ricky snorts while Red throws him a deadpan glare.
"How'd you know 'fabulous' was in HSM 2, Red?" Gina questions, her eyebrows reflecting her skepticism.
"Good point Gina." Ashlyn smirks turning from her best friend to her boyfriend. Red sighs in defeat, "I'll get the cape."
Red completely obliterates the song, Gina's not too entirely sure she means that in a good way considering the yelling and running through the halls definitely did something to his pitch. Regardless the theater gang laughs and claps way too much as they move back into the bunker space before they were caught. They get comfortable and a couple of rounds pass until her turn finally comes.
Seb shoots a smile her way, "Alright Gina, truth or dare?"
"Well in favor of not doing anything too crazy, I'll go with truth." Gina says, throwing a playful glare EJ's way. The group laughs at the pointed teasing while Ricky squints noting the sense of familiarity between the two, When did they get so close? the junior thinks to himself.
"Okay, what was your first impression of..." Seb looks around the group in contemplation and Gina pleads to every force known to humankind that he doesn't say his name. Please please please don't say- "Ricky?"
"Babe that's lame." Carlos whines, stroking his arm.
"It's not." Seb pouts, "Gina, is it lame?" He asks her, while Carlos fondly rolls his eyes.
"No it's not." Gina assures him with a shy smile, she turns to look at her shoes and thinks of her first day at East High. "I don't know I guess I was intrigued. He kinda busted in to the auditorium door and regardless of being late pretty much killed his audition." The curly-haired beauty sneaks a glance at Ricky and he has this glimmer in his eye. She'd seen it before but can't quite place it, for some reason the color orange comes to mind. "The singing part at least." Gina adds and they all laugh thinking of Ricky's unique take on Chad's lines to Troy.
She shakes her head with a soft laugh, "So I don't know I guess I'd say intrigued or impressed?" Ricky feels his cheeks heat up on their own accord and he finds he can't quite say anything at the moment, he's not sure what he'd say. Gina looks away from him and opts to play with her hands while the group berates him to choose the next person.
Ricky sighs choosing the next victim, "Okay EJ truth or dare?"
"I think we've had a good mix of dares so I'll go with truth." EJ nods.
Ricky doesn't know why but since learning of EJ's friendship with Gina he wants to know what is it about the senior that makes the girls all flock toward him. Besides the obvious like looks, muscles, and talent there had to be some fatal flaw that wasn't just being a bit oblivious and cocky. "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" He says, curious.
EJ grimaces at the first thing to come to mind, "Probably poisoning Emily Pratt to get Nini the lead role last summer."
"I still can't believe you did that." Ashlyn shakes her head in disapproval. While Red's eyes widen at the prospect of there being both a potential arsonist and poisoner in his girlfriend's family. Carlos can't help but giggle at the unhinged energy that radiated while Seb looked back at him in disbelief. "That's practically biological warfare!" The blonde sophomore exclaimed.
"I know I felt awful, that's why I'm so glad Nini and Emily forgave me for that." EJ says wistfully. "Well that and our fun little wonderstudies plot." The senior adds, giving Gina a head nod in recognition at that her head snaps right up her eyes spelling shock and fear.
Ricky's looks between the pair and his eyebrows scrunch in confusion, "What wonderstudies plot?" Gina looks sick at the question and suddenly Ricky wants to ask again.
"It's not a big thing, who's turn is it now?" Gina says, her back straight and nerves shot but she's not the only one. It's the first time she'd spoken to him directly for a while now.
"I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now." EJ shrugs not seeing Gina practically plead with her eyes to not continue from across the room, she bites her lip in nervous trepidation. "Gina and me stole Nini's phone so she could drop the play and I could see what was going on between you two. It was awful."
The room falls silent and it hits EJ no one had known what they'd done or failed to do. Ashlyn sighs and clutches her blanket closer to her. Gina had told her over break when they were staying together, she knows who she is now is not the same person she was then. She reaches out to grab her friend's hand as Gina sits there frozen unable to look anyone in the eye.
EJ chances a look at Gina and sends an apologetic glance her way, one that she doesn't catch. His expression becomes ridden with guilt.
Red chances a look at Ricky who still seemed to be processing while the rest of them spared awkward looks at one another, "Well lots to unpack there." Carlos says eyes wide with shock, Seb purses his lips looking between Ricky and Gina, now caught in some sort of stare-off. Maybe their was more between the pair than meets the eye, the sophomore considered.
"Is that true?" Ricky finally asks, hoping this was some kind of cruel joke.
"Ricky-" Gina's voice is as low as she's ever heard it so she clears her throat and tries again.
"Why don't we all take a breath?" Ashlyn interjects and Gina still hasn't said anything. He has his answer, Ricky knows then it's the truth. She lied about everything. It's no wonder she was avoiding him, she clearly didn't have use for him. She clearly wasn't his friend to begin with, at the thought he thinks he understands the term 'heart break' because something inside of him definitely cracks.
"Fucking unbelievable" Ricky says, before throwing the blanket off of him and storming out of the room.
"Ricky wait!" Gina calls as she follows him out.
Ricky's nearly at the end of the second floor hall by the time she reaches him, they're by the auditorium still closed down for repairs, the place that started it all. He turns to her suddenly stopping her right in her tracks. "Is that why you wanted me in the play when you talked to me for the first time, at the skatepark? So Nini would quit?" It all clicks to him now, he thinks of every minute he's spent with Gina and wonders if it was at all possible it was a lie. His resolve wavers and his eyes get red in his efforts not to cry.
"I was a different person then." Gina slowly shakes her head, the urge to distance herself from this conversation rose by the minute. The weight of his gaze and his hurt was something she wasn't sure she was ever equipped for.
"What a semester ago? Who are you now then?" Ricky incredulously asks her, his arms stretched out to his sides looking for the answer.
She snaps and her head reels at the sudden question, "Who are you?!" Gina directs the question right back at him because she's coming to realize she doesn't really know. "You say you're gonna audition for the play, then you decide don't and then you do. You're a theater kid when Nini's around and you're a skate rat when she isn't." She hesitates over the next few words, knowing she can't take them back.
"You send me chocolates on Valentine's day when you're with someone else? Ricky, who are you? Because if that's you it's good to know..." Gina takes a step back, her vision clouded with water pooling her eyes. Ricky's eyes evade hers guilty while he finds his way into her space and her arms wrap around her waist in effort to comfort herself, she turns away from him. It's then that the feeling of anger rises within him at the judgment. All of a sudden he was just that impulsive boy who didn't think through the consequences of his actions and what they meant for other people.
The junior thinks of how Mr. Mazzara called him unreliable before auditions and Nini telling him last year that he didn't do commitment, that he coasts. His heart sinks, even more, when he thinks the one person who was supposedly got him really didn't at all or, somehow even worse, was pretending to the entire time.
"Are you really asking me if I'm that person? Someone who could do something like that to Nini? You know that's not me, or at least i thought you did! God, everyone has been just trying to put me in this box lately. What is up with that?" Ricky exhaustedly exclaims. Gina frowns, her eyes squinting in confusion for a split second, Did someone say something to him? It bothers her that even now mid-fight she can't help but be concerned for him, she can't help but care. She could never put Ricky in a box, he was way too many things all at once. She thought he was kind of like her in that regard and now she doesn't know what to think.
Gina shakes her head resolute in her annoyance and determined to figure out the truth. The note saying "just fly dude" left no doubt in her mind it was him, "Why'd you send me the chocolates, Ricky?"
He huffs indignantly crossing his arms, "I'm sorry for wanting to see my friend happy on a day that I knew was hard for her, was that so bad?"
"Not when it could mean something else." It's the first time either of them explicitly acknowledges the underlying tension between them and its so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ricky gulps, "I guess you don't know me at all." Is all he could say in response.
"Oh, I don't know you?" Gina replies and this time Ricky's the one to take a step back, suddenly conscious of the space between.
"Apparently not." Ricky tries to offhandedly shrug but maybe she does know him because he bites the corner of his lip and blinks one too many times to mean it, looking away from her at the last second.
"So I don't know that Red was the first friend you ever made, in preschool. That you go to the skate park every other day because you can't stand how quiet the sound of your house is and that you'd never thought you'd miss the sounds of your parents fighting." Gina looks at him square in the eye and tells him exactly what he'd told her over the course of their friendship.
His eyes are red in that way she knows means he's going to cry or on the verge of shedding tears but she can't stop now, he has to know how much she's come to know him. The real him, not the 'theater nerd', the Beast, Troy Bolton, skate rat or whoever else he thought everyone wanted him to be but Ricky. The boy all of a sudden in her orbit since that fateful night in October when she felt like she was coming home, and not just because Ricky drove her there.
"Or that you miss your mom more than you can say sometimes, and you hate the thought of telling your dad that because you think it'd make him feel guilty. Or that your dad wanted you to go to East High and the idea grew on you" Now it's like Ricky can't look at anyone but her, her breath stutters when she thinks of what she wants to say to him next.
"and I definitely don't know that you hate strawberry and banana smoothies because the taste of one always overpowers the other." Gina pointedly adds through a teary huffed laugh, her head shaking in unequivocal fondness.
"It's usually banana if it isn't made right. A lot of people don't like it, it's not just me!" Ricky exclaims in defense and the pair are now no more than two feet apart.
Gina fights the urge to laugh and purses her lips in efforts to lessen the bittersweet smile on her face, "Ricky-"
"None of this changes the fact that you lied to me. You used me to try and get Nini out of the show" Ricky interrupts her swiftly shaking his head, his eyes now looking to the opposite end of the space unable to meet her gaze again. He's still mad at her. So mad at so many different things. The fact that she lied, the fact that he was now questioning everything even if she did know him. Did he know the real her? Was their friendship even real? Were his feelings, something that he felt so strong calling something deep within him, a lie?
"I'm sorry about all of it. But I'm not sorry it brought us together. Even now when you're mad at me I wouldn't take any of it back if it meant we wouldn't have been friends."
"So everything you told me about you moving all the time and your mom, that was real?"
"Yes, I would never lie to you about that." Gina insists, hurt clear in her voice.
"You would just lie and manipulate me to get me back into the play not because you believed in me but because you wanted Nini out." Ricky crosses his arms, he knows he's being impossible but if he didn't hold on to his anger all he would have is hurt and betrayal and the latter was a lot easier to deal with and hold on to.
Gina shakes her head tiredly, he could be so stubborn sometimes. "Everything I told you that day at the skatepark was true. You have your own style but lately it's like you can't find it."
Ricky's eyes find hers again and his lips part while she swallows down the uneasy feeling in her stomach. He swallows the hard truth she gives him only to look away from her again and that uneasy feeling she'd felt is quickly replaced by annoyance. He could blame her for the wonderstudies thing up and down but it still wouldn't take away from the fact that he used her right back.
"You know it's not like your completely blameless in this situation. So I lied to you to get you in the play but you used me."
"Oh and what did I do? Was there some kind of scheme I forgot I cooked up that you're now deciding to tell me about?" Ricky bitterly replies.
Gina pointedly looks at him again, "I left and you forgot about me as soon as I did, like I was never even here. Like I was some placeholder for Nini until you got the real thing."
Ricky fixes his eyes on her, his expression spelling pure confusion. Of course he didn't get it. "Every time you needed a distraction from your problems I was there, I was the one that told you to do what makes you happy." Gina pokes a finger to his chest and he's breathless yet again. "And yeah maybe I did volunteer that position at certain points but it was only because I wanted to be your friend, and you used that."
"Gina I didn't mean to use you like that I thought we were only just starting to become friends. I didn't know that I was putting this weight on you. Im sorry..." Ricky says worriedly. He'd never meant to make her feel used he just thought they'd understood each other and that maybe in some way like the night of thanksgiving he could be there for her too regardless of her pushing him away or not.
"But you weren't, I just-" I wanted to be something more...I thought you wanted it too, Gina shakes her head at the thought but she doesn't mention that. She doesn't mention how much it hurts her that he chose someone else the same night she came back. That it's the real reason they can't hang out, but Gina can't tell him that. She'd rather choke on her own words and for a moment she does.
Her throat is tight with emotion and words she can't bring herself to say, so she doesn't the only thing she can do is look at him with this hopeless expression Gina wills he can't see through.
"What? You just what?" Ricky whispers asking her to finish what she started and she's near tears again. This friend-thing, staying somewhere, commitment it wasn't for her. Ashlyn reassured her again and again that she wasn't a burden that she wanted her there but what did she know about being a real friend? clearly not enough if she misjudged her entire friendship with Ricky this much.
"Who are we trying to kid? Me staying somewhere and actually having friends? What if they see I'm not the type of friend they want? What if they realize I'm not worth it like you did after the play?" Gina's arms are secure around her figure again, safely tucked away from him.
Ricky's eyes widen impossibly with shock, "Is that what you think? What we stopped being friends because I thought you weren't worth it?"
"I don't know you tell me." Gina shakily replies, the tears escaping her eyes flowing freely down her face.
"You left and then you stopped talking to me even after you came back, Gina!" Ricky shouts incredulously. Gina had it all wrong if that was what she thought happened between them because from where Ricky was sitting she came back and didn't speak a word to him, would avoid his eyes and texts like they weren't even friends to begin with. She was worth infinitely more than what life has dealt her and he would've told her that if she hadn't consistently ducked at the sight of him. It drives him insane that it's like one step forward and three steps back with her. Ricky will search for her gaze and she'll meet it only to look away, this game was exhausting. This game hurt.
"and you never asked why!" She yells right back.
"Then why?" Ricky takes the step forward, his movements practically begging her to finish what you started.
"Why do you think Bowen?" The silence follows them again and Gina can only pace away from him to the other end of the hall when he turns away from her again. It drives her insane that he refuses to acknowledge what's there, that he's running away from it. But in a roundabout crazy way, she's also grateful for it because she really doesn't know how to face this. How to face all these crazy feelings and stay sane around him, every day it's like it becomes less possible.
"I never wanted to leave. No one in their right mind would ever willfully leave you, life just happens." Then Gina turns back and says things like this that make her feel like she's losing her mind, suddenly catching up to the fact that she can't quietly keep her feelings bottled up safe inside her like she'd been able to do all these years. Ricky Bowen, one skater theater boy from Salt Lake City fucked up years of practice with those doe brown eyes of his.
"I guess I'm just not used to life happening so fast." Ricky admits while Gina looks off to the endless rows of white lockers. She looks back up at him when he approaches her again, his eyes earnest and vulnerable. It's then she remembers change never came so easy for him, Ricky wasn't used to packing up everything he owned and never making any connections because of fear of leaving. He was the boy who stayed and even then life wouldn't bend to his speed or will no matter how adorably impossibly stubborn he was, Gina nearly smiles at the thought.
"There wasn't a minute that went by that I didn't think about you. How you were doing, what you were doing, who you were with." Ricky finishes and Gina huffs, every nerve in her body suddenly set on overdrive. Ricky had missed her, she meant something to him, her heart warms despite the bitter cold they find themselves surrounded by, outside of the comfort of the bunker and blankets.
The cold front wakes her up and she remembers that despite that he still chose someone else. Gina can only look at him with this face of contempt because even with her in mind, it doesn't dispel every insecurity she currently has now that she's finally staying somewhere. She's reminded of why she doesn't do the complication that is friends and dates all at once.
Gina resolutely states, "All I'm saying is I don't think I belong here that much is clear."
"What are talking about? you belong here, you belong at East High with us. You belong with-" Ricky catches himself before 'me' could slip out of his mouth. He'd mean every word of what he's saying and that's what scares him. His eyes shift to his shoes when the thought starts to settle in his mind that maybe Gina wasn't the only one running from problems here. Gina grips her face exhaustedly and wipes the tears from her eyes before shaking her head and releasing a dark laugh. Of course, he can't finish that sentence.
"I can't do this, I need to go." Gina shakily tells him pushing her way through to the door on the other end of the hall. It's three steps back now, Ricky thinks sardonically to himself as she's makes her way past him. Gina just insists on running away from him every time no matter what he does.
Ricky shakes his head and clenches his jaw, "The disappearing Gina act ladies and gentlemen, what she does best. Always leaving."
Did he really just say that?
Gina slowly turns and gives this look that he hopes he never sees again, with this quiet defeat and emptiness in them that overtakes her expression.
Ricky tries to grab for her hand and she visibly flinches, "Gina I didn't mean that, wait-"
"You wanna know the worst part of this is that I do know you. Or I thought I did, only I guess I completely misjudged you because you don't even know who you are, Ricky." Silence rings out in the hallway like nothing they'd ever heard before until she breaks it again. "and you clearly don't know me." She pushes past him again and the tears fall freely, Gina catches a sob before it escapes her, and her heart breaks more with every step she takes distancing herself from him.
Ricky stands alone in the hallway breathing heavily with tears escaping his own eyes, he slides down the nearest wall. He's had the most curious urge to follow her yet stay as far away from her as possible. There was this gravitational pull, this need to be in her orbit that kept bringing him back to her. It's now that Ricky considers maybe it's that same force that keeps pulling them apart.