𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 [a rini au]

ninety-six

was ricky nervous going into the highly anticipated party on thursday night? yes, for many reasons. firstly, the last party he attended resulted in a blow up with nina salazar-roberts, something he had still been trying to recover from. second, he was aware of gina's intentions to set him up with jess larsen, one of the talented cast members that he had actually grown to like. he wasn't sure how that would play out. lastly, he knew he wouldn't be able to think about jess without thinking about nina, and that was a heavy influence in his decision to get wasted.

everyone was plastered. it was a teen party, after all. once ricky got a few seltzers in him, he felt the carelessness take over. he was able to tipsily play pong alongside some of the cast members without a worry in the world. he posed for pictures willingly, tension seeming to fly from his shoulders as he babbled without a concern for his words. he didn't like the idea of using alcohol as a stress reliever; he wasn't a heavy social drinker, after all. but, he lived for the nights that made him feel like a normal teenage boy. the last sober part of his brain tried to argue why he would drop nina if he apparently so longed for normalcy, but that objection was wiped from his mind within two shots of liquor.

it was when gina suggested they all play spin the bottle that he was able to comprehend that her plan was underway. everyone assembled in a circle on the floor as gina placed an empty beer bottle in the middle. "i'll go first," she happily offered, giving the bottle a strong spin. after it settled down, the bottle landed on a cast member across from the brunette, taylor. without hesitation, the two girls leaned over the bottle, managing to kiss one another just before bursting into a fit of giggles.

there were a couple of more turns until it was inevitably time for ricky to spin. he flicked the bottle just enough for it to make a few rounds before it halted. ricky followed the bottle to where it was pointing – right next to him. ricky looked to the person on his left, unsurprised that it was a hopeful jess. for a few seconds, the boy felt a surge of déjà vu. here he was, sitting before a brown-haired girl, contemplating whether or not to kiss her. for a moment, he saw a heartening glimmer in jess's eyes that paralleled the same one he saw in nina's on her last night in los angeles. it almost made him second guess what he was about to do.

but, the alcohol swooped in once again, absorbing his body to the point where any thought of nina was disintegrated. "oh, ricky," he heard jess drunkenly taunt, the girl putting her hand on his leg.

with the cheers of the friends becoming white noise, ricky's nose scrunched as met her lips. he had no complaints; it was thrilling. when they pulled away, there was a contagious smile on each of their faces. they were both too captivated in the moment to even hear that another turn was commencing.

it was then that ricky knew it wouldn't be the last time he'd kiss her that night.