𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 [a rini au]

one hundred and fifteen

on friday, may 5th, nina surprisingly wasn't a prisoner to the morning shift. in fact, she was granted the day off from work. she wanted to make the most of her day, since rarely did she have a day off during the week, especially towards the end of her school year. as she climbed into her car that morning, she plugged her phone into the aux cord like she always did before her drive to school. but, once she pressed a song to play, no music flooded the car speakers as it normally did. the girl grumbled as she fiddled with the cord's dongle, but nothing seemed to make the phone register. nina glanced at the dash clock quickly during this endeavor, and she concluded that if she didn't leave right then, she'd be late. so, to compensate, she turned on the radio and moved the dial to a local station while she backed out of her driveway.

nina hated the radio in the mornings. if it was the afternoon and she was in dire need of music, she would settle for the radio. but, the morning was categorized by boring talk shows and traffic or weather reports. after listening to a few weathermen describe salt lake's signature weather for the day - sunny - nina was shocked that it was followed by a pleasant song as she drove down the street. once it ended, though, she huffed silently when the morning show hosts began speaking.

"love that song," the male host began. "don't you?"

"oh, yeah," his female cohost agreed. "now, like we mentioned earlier, we have some very exciting stuff to share today and it all starts now." the tease made nina's focus heighten.

"that's right," the man seconded. "just dropped today is 'sweetheart' by ricky bowen, and we've got it for you in a bit. now, when word broke that ricky would be writing for the lonely hearts sequel, we were all stoked."

nina's brow arched, but she tried to focus on the road while loudening the volume. "totally," the woman joyfully continued, "and with all the content of him and jess larsen, too? i cannot wait to hear this song, joe."

"well, lauren and i don't want to keep you all waiting any longer," joe announced, a short pause following before an automated introduction in ricky's voice played.

"hey, everyone, it's ricky bowen, and you're listening to my new song, 'sweetheart,' on 97.1 zht!"

nina didn't have much time to decide whether or not she wanted to shut the radio off. by time she let ricky's professional voice swim through her eardrums, the instrumental beginning of the highly anticipated song begged her to stay.

she wasn't thrown off by the first verse; it sounded like a stereotypical love song. it hurt more to hear words like that in ricky's iconic tone, but she tried to put that beside her. she almost caught her attention drifting when the chorus hit, yet after she heard it, she wished she hadn't turned the radio on in the first place. her lips fell open slightly as she comprehended every line, hands trembling and almost forgetting to make the turn onto the east high's street. it was the last line of the chorus that hit her the hardest, conveniently when she executed a shaky park job in her designated spot in the junior lot.

i've waited all day for my sweetheart, how i've loved you from the very start.

i know right now that we must be apart, that don't mean you're not my sweetheart.

nina was too dumbfounded to turn off the station. she sat in her car for the rest of the song, hearing those last lines of the chorus repeat themselves over and over again. the thoughts that occupied her mind were rabid, trying to sway her one way or the other regarding the hypothesis she was forming.

this isn't about you. he never even liked you, nevermind loved you from the start?

this is absolutely about you. the line about being apart? c'mon. he couldn't have been more obvious.

she didn't even notice the morning show hosts reviewing the song after it ended. the thing that pulled her from her incredulous daze was ej. he had the spot next to her, and when he noticed the girl staring blankly at her dash, he hopped out and knocked on the drivers side window while mouthing her name.

nina rolled her window down, meeting ej with petrified eyes. his welcoming expression morphed into a concerned one at the sight of her. "you look like you've seen a ghost," he didn't sugarcoat it.

the girl jerked a thumb to her passenger seat. "get in, quick."

"what? we have homeroom!"

"get in, ej!"

the boy cooperated after being scolded, rounding the front of the honda civic to reach the passengers side. when he got inside, nina rolled her window back up and locked the doors. ej's eyebrows furrowed. "are you finally kidnapping me?"

"dude, i just heard ricky's song," she ignored his joke, "and it's uncanny."

ej pursed his lips. "how so?"

nina grabbed her phone, heading to spotify to find the song. once she did, she shut her car off completely and pressed play. the two listened quietly to the tune, and every part that caught nina's eye also caught ej's. by the end, he was gaping at her. she nodded rapidly. "uh huh."

"that's crazy," he gasped, shaking his surprise off. "it has to be about you, right?"

"i think so," nina said as more of a question than a confident reply. "i mean, he told me when he first got the gig to write the song, and that was way before he became a thing with jess. when you keep that and our timeline in mind, it's too closely resemblant to not be about me. us."

"okay, we don't have to panic," ej put a hand on top her small ones. "no one knows when jess and ricky first met. people are stupid, too. they'll tie the song to whoever is in his life right now regardless of who they are, and it's currently not you. i think you're in the clear."

nina admired ej's rationality at times, a character trait of hers she failed to possess when things got the slightest but confusing in her life. unless she said something, there's no way people would theorize it was about her. besides, it's already buzzing that the song was for jess. hell, for all nina really knew, she was just paranoid and the song isn't even about her at all. ricky would never admit it either way.

"yeah, yeah, you're right," she sighed to regain composure, unlocking the doors again. "i'm sure ashlyn will have some thoughts."