Ethereal Love

Back to Normal(ish)

"So, when we're at school we still hate each other, right?" Ricky asked as he trailed kisses down Nini's neck. She closed her eyes, grunting an affirmative. She gasped as he nibbled her earlobe, squirming slightly. He groaned at the movement, pulling away and resting his head on her shoulder. They were in the back of his car, in the far corner of the parking lot, him straddling her legs as they made out heatedly.

"We should stop now. People are arriving." He whispered. She nodded, sighing in disappointment. They stayed still for a moment, neither of them wanting to move, but Ricky finally forced himself to get off her lap and sit next to her, straightening his crumpled shirt. She smiled, readjusting her own clothes. He opened his mouth to tell her that her hair was a little messy, but stopped himself. It looked sexy, almost like sex-hair. Even though they couldn't go public, at least not yet, he wanted people to at least know that she belonged to someone.

They hurriedly left the car, careful to make sure nobody was around before dashing across the lot. Ricky headed towards the main entrance while Nini looped around to the library doors on the side of the building. School didn't start for another thirty minutes, but there were a few people hanging around and she didn't want to attract suspicion by walking in with him.

She sighed as she took a seat at one of the desks, smiling half-heartedly at the librarian as she grabbed the nearest book and wished that she could be there with Ricky, rather than by herself. She was sick of feeling alone.

LINE BREAK

Ricky grinned, on a high from his before-school activities. It all seemed like a bit of a dream to him; he'd always wanted Nina Salazar-Roberts, and now he had her. Okay, their relationship was rocky at best, but she'd admitted that she liked him a lot, and that was better than anything he'd ever dared to hope for. His friends were waiting for him at his locker, and he greeted them cheerily.

"'Sup guys?"

"Not much, really. We're all going to the movies on Friday to see SpiderMan: Far From Home. Do you wanna come?" Jake asked, excited. Ricky shook his head.

"Sorry, I can't. I have plans." They all stared at him. He frowned back at them, confused by their confusion.

"What?"

"You have plans? You never have plans. We're your only friends..." Jake pointed out. Ricky opened his mouth to protest, but then he shrugged.

"I guess that's true... but I don't have plans with friends."

"Then who do you have plans with?"

"Ni-I mean um... my family. We're, um, we're going to see my Great Aunt Betty..." he stammered. The three of them frowned and glanced at each other, suspicious.

"Who?" Liam asked. Ricky's eyes widened.

"Wh-what do you mean? Who is who? My Great Aunt Betty? She's my great aunt..."

"Ricky, you don't have any Great Aunts. Who's the girl you're screwing?"

"Jake!" he yelped, shocked.

"Oh, come on! We're not stupid. I mean, look at you. It was only a matter of time since you got good-looking." He shrugged. Ricky sighed, leaning back against the locker and running a hand through his hair.

"Am I really that obvious?" he sighed. There was a collective gasp and he looked up, surprised at the shocked looks on his friends' faces.

"Whoa, what? We didn't actually think you had a girl!" Greg half-shouted.

"Shh!" Ricky slapped a hand over his friend's mouth, looking around to make sure nobody had heard. They all stared at him, wide-eyed, until Jake snorted loudly and they all started laughing hysterically. When they finally stopped, Ricky was glaring at them, arms folded.

"Seriously, do you really find it that hilarious that I have a girlfriend?" he winced as he said the word, because he wasn't sure if it was a lie or not. Okay, so they hadn't really discussed going exclusive. They hadn't discussed much at all after their conversation at the lake. It took all he had, and probably all that Nini had too, to stop kissing her and let her get out of the car and go home.

"Oh, so it's a girlfriend? I thought it was just a fuck-buddy." Ricky glowered.

"Don't call her 'it'. And don't be a dick; you know I'm not that kind of guy."

"Oh really? So, what, you're not the type of guy to sleep with your friend's girlfriend?" Ricky froze, jaw-dropping.

"H-how did you know about that?" he asked Liam, shocked.

"I used to go to school with Ej, before he moved. I never realized that the "Ricky" he mentioned a couple times when he was talking about summer was you... until he called me up and told me that 'this Ricky Bowen bastard fucked my girlfriend'. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but apparently you don't regret it, if you're still with her." Liam looked disgusted. Ricky shook his head.

"Look, Liam, you know me. You know I'm not a bad guy. What happened was... it was an accident. We drank too much, and the truth came out, and one thing led to another... it's not just sex. And I didn't mean to hurt Ej." He tried to explain, but Liam just scoffed. He didn't want to lose his friends and he didn't want them to think he was a liar- a jerk. Liam sighed.

"Look, Ricky, I want to believe you, but the Ricky I knew never would have done something like this. Not to a friend. And you never would have given Nina Salazar-Roberts  the time of day, let alone slept with her. I don't know if it's because of the new look, or if you've been acting different for longer and I've overlooked it, but whatever it is, you've changed. And I don't know if I like this new Ricky." He said quietly. Ricky bit his tongue, nodding understandingly, and then glancing at the other two. They both looked a little shocked, probably by the revelation that it was Nini Salazar-Roberts, the most popular girl in school and what they had thought to be Ricky's least favorite person in the world, was the girl he was sort-of-dating. Greg shrugged, and then turned to follow Liam as he walked away. Jake glanced at their retreating figures and then back at Ricky, torn.

"Ricky, I-"

"Just go with them, Jake. We both know you'd rather hang out with the two of them than me."

"I'm sorry, man. I don't think you've changed too much. I think you just need to let Liam cool off, you know? Things will blow over. Oh, and good luck with Nini." He added, winking, before running off after the others. Ricky laughed. He could always count on Jake to lighten the mood, even when he was being abandoned by the only friends he had in the school.

"Thanks, Jake. See you around." He smiled, and then sighed, turning to rest his forehead against the locker. The day had started so positively. Groaning loudly, he checked his watch. He still had forty-five minutes to kill before lessons started.

With a sigh, he made up his mind. Slamming his fist against the locker, he straightened up, shook his head, and marched out of the school building.

He started his car and drove out of the lot, only a couple freshmen there to see him make his escape.

He didn't know where he was going, or what he was going to do. All he knew was that he couldn't face school, with his friends ignoring him and the girl he was in love with refusing to acknowledge his existence.
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Poor Ricky :(