Falling Slowly | Ricky Bowen

4- Teaming up

I quickly excused myself once I'd finished helping Miss Jenn and Carlos finalize the cast list for multiple reasons. One being, I felt completely and utterly drained, and two being I couldn't stand the thought of having to see EJs reaction to the role we'd decided on for him.

Miss Jenn thought Ricky was perfect for the role of troy, she claimed when in doubt, always go for the underdog, aka Ricky; and as much as I didn't really care who got the parts, I just wanted EJ to be happy; I had to agree with her, meaning EJ got the role of Chad, something I knew he would not be pleased with.

I had my own reasons for voting on Ricky for Troy, one's I'd never dare to say out loud due to how selfish they sound; if Ricky is playing Troy, and Nini is Gabriella, that means they'll be spending a lot of time together, leaving EJ all alone... and there's a small part of me that hope's maybe he'll finally notice me, even if all I'm doing it quietly observing and playing the piano.

"Laurie!" I exclaim as I open my front door; He greets me just like he does every day, his tail happily wagging behind him.

I place my keys in the bowl at the door, taking note of the other set already in there, dad's home. "Ellie?" He calls out, from I assume, the kitchen; he was never home this early, so I quickly slide my bag off my shoulders, dropping it on the floor on my way into the kitchen.

As soon as I enter, I'm met with the sight of my dad, standing by the stove waving a hand towel at the smoke that's steaming off the stove, "Need some help?" I ask, dad nods his head rapidly, and I get to work, opening all the windows in the small room and turning on the fan above the stove; I gesture for dad to continue fanning; eventually, it dies down, leaving the smell of burnt food behind.

Dad frowns, moving to sit at the kitchen table, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I was trying to surprise you with your favorite, but-" he pauses, gesturing to the mess around him. Even when she was sick, mom never let dad anywhere near the kitchen; luckily, we'd had so many meals delivered we never had to worry.

It'd been two years now since mom passed, right before my first year of high school. People stopped dropping meals off a long time ago, meaning dad and I survived on take out, my select cooking skills, and cereal, "I get it," I reassure, moving to sit on the barstool across from him, "So, why are you home so early anyway?"

After mom passed, dad began working a lot more; Mom's hospital bills had stacked up so, we moved into a smaller home, and dad began taking way more overtime, it wasn't easy, but we make due.

"I realized it'd been a while since we've had family dinner," Despite the happy go lucky smile on his face, I could tell by his voice just how exhausted he was; I knew he was only trying to be strong for me, which is why I smile in return.

I shuffled over to the drawer by the stove; I'm sure most people's kitchen drawers are full of cooking utensils and fancy china. Still, dad and I didn't really need anything besides the necessities, hence why we have a drawer dedicated to take out menus.

I scheme through the drawer, picking out the menus to our top three places, "Indian, Chinese, or Italian," I ask, raising the papers for dad to see.

An hour later, the table was set, and takeout containers from our favorite Chinese restaurant scattered the table, "So, you were home later than usual today?" Dad noted, "hanging out with Carlos?"

I absentmindedly swirl noodles around my fork as I respond, "Uh, sort of?" It comes off as more of a question than a statement; dad gestures for me to go on, "He's choreographing the school musical this semester," I begin explaining, "and they needed someone to play piano for them during auditions."

Dad smiled at me proudly, "that's great sweetie," He knew how hard I found it to play in front of others, "are you going to go back?"

I nod, playfully rolling my eyes, "Unfortunately," Dad laughs at that, "Carlos can be very persuasive, and I figured it'd look good on college applications." I don't mention the senior boy that I'd also stayed for.