Wake Up | E. Caswell [SLOW UPDATES]

eighteen | tech week pt. 1

Chapter Eighteen:
Tech Week pt. 1

RETURNING FROM BREAK, Lucy hadn't talked to Ej all that much. She spent a lot of time talking to Nini and Kourtney about everything, and as her mom's birthday was rapidly approaching (it being the same day as opening night), Lucy found herself clinging to her dad a lot more for some stability.

"Hey, where we're you? I feel like I barely heard from you all weekend?" Ricky asked Lucy confusedly, catching up with her the morning of the first day back.

"I uhm... I kinda fell off the map, I guess," she shrugged. Lucy's mind wasn't all there currently.

"Fell off the map? While still talking with Nini and Kourtney?" Ricky reminded her, having seen Kourtney post snaps and a couple screenshots of funny texts from Lucy and Nini on her spam. Lucy sighed but didn't look at him.

"Ricky, it's nothing personal—"

"Lucy, I needed you!" Ricky told her, his tone clearly upset.

"And I needed to take care of myself, Ricky. I'm sorry, okay? I just, I'm having a tough time is all," Lucy frowned, finally stopping to turn and look at him. Ricky pursed his lips and looked down. Lucy only rolled her eyes slightly and started to walk again, Ricky following after her.

"I'm sorry. I understand that," Ricky sighed. "Is everything okay? Do you wanna like, talk about—"

"Oh my god," Lucy blurted. Ricky looked up at her confusedly then followed her gaze to where a gaping hole in the wall was where the auditorium was supposed to be.

"Oh my god," Ricky echoed, the two shared a look and sped up their pace, joining everyone at the hole in the wall.

"Ej," Lucy called out, he turned to look at her, placing his hand on her elbow gently as she did the same. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I don't know, we all just got here too," He told her honestly. Lucy's lips parted and her eyes were filled with concern and they both turned back to look at the auditorium as a firefighter excused themselves through.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" Nini asked as she joined the group.

"It's okay! Nobody was hurt! There was a small fire in the theater over the holiday," Miss Jenn explained to them, "and the sprinklers did their job."

"We're almost done in here, just have to finish up the faculty room next," the firefighter explained to Miss Jenn as she approached holding a smoking and melted basketball. "Some circuits blew in there over the break. Unfortunately the show cannot go on."

"What?" Miss Jenn asked breathlessly. Lucy looked up at Ej with a sad and worried expression and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"Fire ripped through half of your costumes, and the sprinklers ruined a bunch of your sets. I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to red tag the entire backstage area for a month at least," the firefighter told Miss Jenn, handing her the smoking basketball. Lucy let out a small whimper and wrapped her arms around Ej's torso, burying her face in his chest as he patted the back of her head comfortingly.

"Did she just say costumes?" Kourtney asked brokenly. Lucy pulled away from Ej slightly and turned to hold Kourtney's hand comfortingly as Ej held onto her shoulders still.