𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 [a rini au]

- TWENTY-SEVEN!

it wasn't until ricky moved to new york that he realized perhaps his level of stardom was higher than he presumed. he knew he had aaliyah waiting for him on the good girls set as well as gina and ej who were doing some shoots with teen vogue, but he expected only to be restricting his free time to them. however, just within a few weeks of arriving in the city that never sleeps, it was as if ricky himself was never sleeping. aside from his long hours at cosmopolitan, he was receiving direct messages left and right from new york based celebrities he had always looked up to asking to connect.

the celebrity world was a strange one – you didn't have to know anything about a person to somehow know exactly where they were working at a given time. that's why ricky was starstruck when aaliyah told him, gina, and ej that some of the good girls cast would be hanging out with billie eilish this weekend. aaliyah explained that the artist had also written a song for the show's upcoming season, and she wanted to get together with a few of the actors to celebrate. the invite was to be extended to the new arrival and the model duo.

when ricky first showed at the manhattan cliff side, it felt like an out of body experience. billie eilish herself was praising his songwriting, and he needed ej to nudge him a few times in order to thank her normally. as the evening progressed, though, ricky started to feel more comfortable in his own skin. maybe that was due to the alcohol he and some of his peers were casually sipping on in the windy night, but regardless, he was cracking jokes and smiling along like his typical self.

as the night went on, the group snapped various photos. after aaliyah posted her instagram picture and it began to get traction, everyone took out their phones to take a peek. ricky's eyes immediately went to nini's comment, a soft smirk gradually tugging at his tightened lips.

"ricky, i've always wanted to ask you about nini," eliza fisher, the actress who played nany on the cw hit show, poked the white noise as she read his mind, looking up from her phone at ricky. there it was again – celebrities knowing things about other celebrities before they even know that thing about themselves.

the curly-haired singer glanced upwards, body feeling a comfortable amount of flimsy as the street lights from behind eliza blurred with his saccades. "her comment was so cute," eliza continued.