A Little Time to Get to You

not the end - just the beginning

"So, what now?" Ricky asks, his voice hardly above a mumble as sadness begins to replace the overwhelming happiness that had been flooding through us just a few minutes prior. 

I shrug, giving him a soft smile while swinging my bag over my shoulders. We were getting our belongings together as we prepared to leave the school for the night with our families and friends. 

"Now we have a cast party with everyone." I tell him and Ricky laughs, shaking his head before pulling his jean jacket over his t shirt. "I mean like... this is the end." He says sadly and I give him a sympathetic smile before walking towards him, placing my hand on his forearm. "It's not the end babe. Unless you choose not to do the spring musical. But even then, we're like seconds from getting into a college theater program so it seems like we're pretty stuck doing musicals together." I tell him and he chuckles, his eyes flicking to the ground. 

"Would it be totally weird if I auditioned for the spring musical?" He asks honestly, his eyes trained on the ground. I reach my hand up, tilting his chin up. He blushes and I smile, squeezing his arm again. "Why would that be weird?" I ask and he shrugs, biting his lip. "I've never liked musicals." He admits and I giggle, shaking my head. "Sorry Ricky, but I think you've scratched that reputation... you know, ever since you performed as the school's male lead this time around." I joke and he grins, moving towards me. "So I'm stuck doing musicals with you?" He asks and I pretend to think about it before scooting closer to him as well. 

"I think it seems like you are." I grin and Ricky laughs, his hand cupping my elbow as he urges me to close the final distance between our bodies. 

"Thank fucking god." His words ghost over my lips and I close my eyes, waiting for him to press his lips to mine. I suck in a breath when he does, the kiss sending sensations all the way down to my toes. 

I wrap my arms around his torso, squeezing him close to my body as his hand comes up to hold my cheek. His lips work against mine gently and I involuntarily shudder which makes him smile against my mouth. I trail my hand up his side as he begins to pull away and I smile when he rests his forehead against mine. 

"I love you." He grins and I roll my eyes, smiling wide. "Mhm" I mumble, and he laughs happily, nodding. "I do." He says proudly and I hum again, giggling quietly. 

"I love you Miss Nina Salazar- Roberts." He says, pulling away and grabbing my hand, twirling me in a circle. I blush, going along with his antics and twirling around before he finds both of my hands. 

"You know I've loved you since the first time you picked up your ukulele and wrote a song about clouds. A silly little song about clouds. I love you." He says, a grin on his face as he walks us slowly in a circle, our hands still outwardly conjoined in front of our bodies. 

"You know that night in your room when you told me you loved me?" He asks and I nod, slightly confused at his speech but flushing happily nonetheless. "You know I meant to say it." He says and I tilt my head, a small smile on my face. "I know babe, but we've gone over this. Everything's okay." I say and he shrugs, biting his lip. 

"Maybe. But being here with you... tonight... I don't know. Just the fact that you were the sole reason that I even auditioned for this musical... I just want to say it. Scream it actually. I love you." 

I blush, trying my best to ignore the tears that were prickling at my eyes. 

"You don't have to-" I start but he cuts me off. 

"I've loved you since seventh grade, when I made you ride in the front row of Demon's Destiny at Six Flags, and you told me you sometimes get a little seasick on roller coasters, and I said, "come on, live a little." Ricky tells me and I laugh, a few of my tears starting to slip down my cheeks. 

"I remember that." 

Ricky grins and squeezes my hands, pulling me close to his body. 

"Yeah, and then I puked all over your shoes and you didn't even make me feel bad about it." He says, and I shrug pulling a hand out of his to wipe at my falling tears. Ricky grabs my wrist gently and moves it down, his own thumb replacing my hand to wipe my tears away. 

"We all do stupid things. That's why that night at the park together... that's why I could jump into this relationship again. That's why everything's okay now. Because we're stupid and make mistakes, and things just happen sometimes." I explain quietly and Ricky grins, nodding as he leans his nose close to mine. 

"I know baby." He murmurs. 

"And that's the thing..." he says. "I can't promise an end to my stupid mistakes and I don't really know what happens tomorrow, or in two minutes when we walk out that door. All I know is, I want this feeling from this musical to keep going. The feeling that I could get up on that stage and look in your eyes and be exactly who I am. I didn't think about my screwed up family when we were out there. All I thought about was you. And this whole experience... I'm just... I'm not ready for it to be over." 

Ricky's speech continues to draw tears from me and I look to the floor, willing my emotion to give me a chance to speak. 

"It's not over babe, it's just beginning. I promise. This is just our beginning." I tell him and Ricky smiles, one hand slipping down to my waist, squeezing gently. 

"That's really, really good to hear." He mumbles and I feel my entire heart swell at the fact that he had fully expressed his thoughts and emotions. 

It wasn't in passing, he wasn't hesitating. 

"God I love you so much." I tell him and his eyes light up further, looking at me intently before I close the distance and press my lips to his forcefully. 

Ricky breathes out into the kiss and we're wrapped in a tight embrace as we make out slowly and gently. 

"We have to go meet our families and the rest of the cast." I murmur when we pull away for air. Ricky nods and he wraps me in a tight hug before reaching for his bag and enclosing my hand in his. 

We walk out the door together, into whatever the world had waiting for us. It was truly just the beginning. 

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And that's the end folks! 😭🙏🏻

I hope you guys enjoyed it and as always, I'm so grateful for each and every one of you.

Sending so much love. ❤️