here with you | ricky bowen ²

chapter four

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leighton smoothed out the shirt she was wearing as she looked in the mirror. she was currently at ashlyn's house and getting ready for the new year's party that was happening soon. "you look so hot! so fabulous!" kourtney yelled as she walked into view in ashlyn's mirror.

kourtney, ashlyn, gina and leighton were going for a 2007 year style for the party that evening, since everyone knew they had to be doing the second high school musical. "and you look just as hot! hellooo." the two girls laughed and finished applying last minute touches to their outfits. gina was fixing her hair in her room as ashlyn was waiting for guest arrival.

though she never admitted it before, leighton was happy she was close friends with kourtney and ashlyn now. months ago she would've thought they were acquaintances if it hadn't been for their shared time in the winter musical. "oh! carlos said him and seb just got here, i'll greet them in and you guys come down when you're done?" ashlyn said as gina walked back from her room area.

the girls agreed and heard the door open from below them. "hey leighton was ricky coming here alone or was he coming with big red?" gina questioned. "he texted me he was going to come alone, something about big red needing to work for a little bit tonight." she responded. gina then asked kourtney about nini and spoke out that she would be coming soon.

they had invited her early as well, but she was busy with her moms for the day, so she wasn't apart of this 2007 dress up. leighton didn't know if it would be weird or not if she was there also. "ready to head down stairs? i hear carlos insulting ashlyn's outfit already." kourtney laughed as the girls followed her down the decorated staircase.

"2007 is a very iconic and on point theme for reasons that i'm not at liberty to disclose until midnight." carlos said as they just reached the bottom. leighton let out a squeal, happy they would be doing the second part of the trilogy. gina hopped the last step and responded to him, "it's because we're doing high school musical two, right?"

the girls hugged seb and carlos as carlos questioned them about how they knew it was going to be their spring musical. "sweetie, use your inside voice." seb said jokingly. leighton laughed and hugged him, "he's right, it wasn't hard to figure out when your whisper is a normal voice." she said.

"i'm mexican and gay, of course this is my inside voice!" carlos exclaimed and this made all the girls laugh even more. "oh god that is literally what my sister says all the time. you both would get along." leighton said catching her breath. "i mean why wouldn't we do hsm two? our hsm was instantly legendary. we already have the cast and half the costumes." the group of teens agreed as they scattered in the family room.

"fill these out!" kourtney said as she handed a piece of paper to the girls and guys before they went too far. "ooh, is this truth or dare?" seb asked and leighton waited for an answer. "no, it's better. write down your resolutions for the new year. we are playing a game later." kourtney demanded.

leighton looked at the sheet of paper and wondered what to write. gina appeared next to her friend and fiddled with the paper in her hand. "know what you're going to write, el?" leighton looked over and shook her head. "there's so much i would love to change this year. feels almost impossible for a change, but i can at least try, right?" the girl asked.

"change is possible if you make it possible. whatever you put on that paper will help lead you to your destination. don't think too hard, el." gina said and scribbled on her paper before placing it in the bowl that kourtney left out. sighing, leighton wrote her resolution down, which said 'to rise above the little and harder things in life.' leighton folded the paper and too placed it in the bowl.

"want to get food?" she asked gina who patiently waited for her to write the resolution. the girls linked arms and made their way into the kitchen just as ej walked through the side door. "i'm sorry im so late." he said holding sodas in his hand and greeting those in the kitchen. "i was volunteering at the soup kitchen with the water polo guys."

gina choked on the carrot she took a bite out of and held back her laughter. leighton nudged her side and held back hers too. carlos was the first to say what they all were thinking, "pics or it didn't happen." and the girls finally all laughed out loud. gina made her way to sit down as leighton trailed behind her.

her phone vibrated and she saw a message from ricky saying he was there and couldn't wait to see her. leighton smiled and locked her phone as she engaged in conversation with other girls from theatre. "wait, have you seriously not heard what musical we're doing?" gina asked from above leighton and she diverted her attention there. ej was shocked and thought it was announced, but carlos panicked and yelled to not say anything.

as he sat down still panicking, ricky walked inside and started singing 'bet on it' from the second high school musical movie. leighton jumped up and watched as he was dancing his way towards the front room where she was at. but the girl paused and felt her stomach drop ten feet down.

right behind ricky was nini who was laughing at ricky and shut the door and made her way to kourtney who greeted her. everyone's eyes were on ricky who was still singing, but gina looked at leighton who was still frozen in her place. "will i find what i lost, you know you can bet on it, bet on it. you can bet on me." he sang and twirled his hips and pointed to his girlfriend as everyone laughed around them.

leighton felt herself come back to earth as he leaned down to kiss her. something about seeing nini walk in with ricky made her stomach hurt. the feeling was all too familiar and she was a little scared. "okay, okay. does anybody not know we're doing high school musical two?" carlos asked as ricky pulled leighton to sit on the couch across from where she was at next to gina before.

"we are? woo-hoo!" ej cheered as leighton laughed a little at that. "hey, angel. are you okay? you look a little distant?" ricky asked as conversations started up around them again. this was all deja vu to leighton and she nodded towards him. "yeah im fine, your singing shocked me. you're a true and natural troy bolton." she laughed and kissed him again.

the slow miserable feeling was swallowed down by leighton as she spoke. ricky believed her and looked up towards gina and saw an odd look on her face. ricky scrunched his eyebrows but still smiled and waved at gina. the girl across from the couple saw how distraught leighton looked and also felt the familiar moment from weeks before.

gina didn't mean to look at her friend ricky weirdly, but she knew something wasn't right with leighton. leighton looked at her eventually and saw gina's eye widen and head tilt to nini and back to ricky as in saying, "are you okay after that?" leighton nodded her head and mouthed, "i'm fine" to gina. hoping she would let it go and stop glaring at ricky before she burned a hole through his skull.

the girl stood up and mentioned she would get a root beer. "leighton, do you want a root beer?" she asked and smiled a hard smile. leighton new this meant she wanted to talk and she agreed. "yes, ricky do you want one? or something else while i'm up?" he told her just a sprite and she left with gina.

clearing her throat, gina crossed her arms as leighton grabbed the two drinks. "i saw you, el." gina said and leighton stopped moving. "i'm fine, g. i promise. it was just a weird moment. i don't want to let those awkward and hurtful memories continue bothering me our entire relationship. especially since i'm finally getting along with nini. plus ricky and i are doing well." she said to her friend who just stared at her.

"i believe you. i'm sorry. i just don't want to see you get hurt again and you know that. i know ricky wouldn't dare hurt you again, he always says how much he loves you." gina said and leighton smiled softly. "thank you for having my back and ready to fight him. i would do the same to you." she laughed and gina let out a snort.

"come on miss fighter." leighton said as they walked to their spots again. gina hip bumped leighton and sat down rejoining the conversation about how amazing the musical costumes would be.

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delia notes: i was writing this chapter and it was waaaaay too long so i divided it up! how do we like it so far?