illicit affairs | rily

ocean eyes

{Author's Note: Ricky and Lily sing again, and I thought I'd attach a youtube cover I found for general vibes for their version! Obviously Liv Keegan and Josh have different voices than these lovely individuals, but use your imagination!}

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This was going to be a challenge if he'd ever had one... She looks at him with those big blue eyes from across the room and while she by all means knows he can't just walk over there and give her what she's asking for, he can't fault her for that lonely expression as he's sure he has the same longing in his own eyes. That shining blue just pulls him in, so different from his own brown eyes... and Nini's.

Perhaps that makes it easier to not feel guilty about the way he stares. The way she's so different than what he's had before. She's not like Nini... Well- not so like her that it feels like he's taking what he feels for his ex girlfriend and projecting it onto the blonde he's recently started connecting with. But is that almost worse?

Perhaps it is worse... 

But there's nothing inherently wrong with a rebound, as he has to keep reminding himself. Not that Lily was necessarily a rebound... Even though in truth she probably was. It's not necessarily a bad thing... to move on with someone else instead of moving on alone. 

Does he have to justify all of this to himself in a whole lot of ways? Yes. Yes he does. But she makes it easier to turn off all those complicated thoughts, if only for a while.

Lily's across Slices, eating with another boy he quickly recognizes as Antoine from the North High Little Mermaid production in the fall. How creative, casting an actual Frenchman as the French chef.  He was equally forward like Lily seemed to be, and from what he can tell from his spot at a table across from Ashlyn and Big Red, Ricky doesn't feel like anything romantic is going on between Lily and the French boy.

Big Red's on his lunch break (though it's arguably a rather late lunch) and so he Ricky and Ashlyn had come by to spend some time with him. They'd become good friends, the three of them, especially with Nini at YAC and Ricky and Ashlyn playing leads in the show. It was nice in a way, for all of them he thinks. 

Things were complicated- it was a bit weird that Ashlyn and Ricky were playing romantic interests on stage given their status as Big Red's girlfriend and best friend respectively, but they were all getting along really well lately. Ricky's been trying to hold onto relationships in his life like these. Not that him holding onto things wasn't a habit he maintained prior, but now especially he was trying to cherish the people in his life.

Those pretty blue eyes of Lily's are on him and he can feel it. It's not unwelcome, but he also feels a bit trapped. Ricky thinks the competition between their teachers (over a past relationship), was more than a little ridiculous. Feuding schools, feuding theatre departments, he didn't sign up for Romeo and Juliet... He remembers going with Nini to The Little Mermaid last semester and enjoying it. But yet he knows his friends would give him a weird look if he went over to talk to Lily, so instead of doing something, he just continues looking in her direction from time to time. 

She meets his eyes too... So it's not like he's the only one staring, even as he tugs at his dog tag necklace, the gift from his ex.

A buzz from his phone has his conversation with Ashlyn and Big Red interrupted, he pulls the device from his pocket and offers them a smile. "Sorry- it's just my dad. He wants to know when I'll be home."

"I mean I'm almost done with my break so if you and Ash want to head out after then that's fine by me?" Big Red shrugs.

"I might uh- stick around Biggie... I'm not busy tonight and I thought maybe after we could finish that movie? I'll do homework at the counter while I wait for you like Georgia sometimes does..." Ashlyn replies, turning to look at her boyfriend with Ricky half forgotten for a moment.