Cruel Summer | Ricky Bowen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | I CAN'T HELP MYSELF

Raya realized that she was flying blind with her plan when the second Act began. How could she think that Ricky would actually follow through what Antoine says? He was pretty oblivious, a bit slow, and sometimes he wasn't if he wanted to know something.

But her plan did follow through.

Ricky was standing there, jaw dropped open as she turned to look at him, smiling happily at him as relief flooded in her veins. And he looked so tired but the tiredness in his eyes turned into glee at the sight of her.

"Hi Ricky."

The curly haired boy turned a bright red, coughing before he blurted out, "I uh... you look beautiful."

The girl smiled as she walked over to him, murmuring, "Thank you. Uh, you look beautiful too."

The two teenagers blushed harder, eyes didn't leave each other as they walked closer, hands interlocking— well, her left hand met his cast, which she delicately traced as she quipped, "So no dancing for us, I'm guessing?"

Ricky snorted, lifting her hand to press a kiss on the back of it. "Slow dancing is still a thing, you know?"

Raya let out a chuckle before she started playing a song, putting her arms around his neck and his own around her waist before they begin to sway from side to side while they were being serenaded by Taylor Swift.

"I... I haven't seen much of you in a while," he mumbled.

She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. "This is what I get for being a coward, I guess. Nini, of all people, had to talk sense into me."

This quirked up a smile from Ricky, who joked, "It's the end times."

"Quit it," Raya jokingly grumbled as she rested her forehead against Ricky's as they both spun in place.

And I can still see it all (In my mind)
All of you, all of me (Intertwined)
I once believed love would be (Black and white)
But it's golden (Golden)
And I can still see it all (In my head)
Back and forth from New York (Sneaking in your bed)
I once believed love would be (Burning red)
But it's golden
Like daylight

"Raya?"

"Hm?"

Ricky rubbed his nose against hers, whispering, "I love you so much."

Raya smiled, her eyes brimming with tears as she whispered, "I love you too, Ricky. More than anything."

"Can we take this interesting relationship we have going?"

They both chuckled at how in sync they still were, nodding their heads before they kissed, Raya's hands ending up in Ricky's hair while he only tried to pull her closer to him, one hand on her cheek to wipe her tears away and the other holding her waist. As soon as they broke the kiss, they only held each other tightly, afraid to let go of the other as if they did, they would disappear into thin air.

I wanna be defined by the things that I love
Not the things I hate
Not the things that I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of
Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night
I, I just think that
You are what you love

As soon as they took down the decorations, Raya and Ricky started making their way to the cafeteria as the girl played the guitar she brought with them, singing to him, "I'm drunk in the back of the car, and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar— Said I'm fine, but it wasn't true. I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you and I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate... And I screamed for whatever it's worth. "I love you," ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"