All Too Well || Caswen

I. Second Chance

What can make the tide turn?

What can make the fire burn?

A second chance is all

It was done. They had successfully made it through another musical.

The cast and crew were celebrating at Slices after deciding to drop out of the Menkies for their production of Beauty and the Beast, and Ricky was debating whether or not to call Lily. Everyone deserved a second chance, right?

Ricky stepped out of the restaurant, hoping a bit of fresh air might help him decide. He noticed EJ sitting on a bench sulking and almost walked right back inside, but something in his mind told him to stay.

"Hey."

EJ looked up in surprise. "What are you doing out here?"

Ricky smiled awkwardly. "Trying to figure out if I should take Lily up on her offer."

"Wait, you're actually considering that?"

"Maybe?" It sounded like more of a question than an answer. "I don't know what to do."

"She's been awful to you and your friends all semester because of a stupid school rivalry. If it were me, I'd block her number and never speak to her again."

Ricky was tempted to point out that EJ always seemed to solve his problems by completely shutting them out, but that was probably against their unspoken rule of pretending they didn't have a past. Besides, he did have a point, so instead he sat down and said, "You're probably right." He stuck his phone back into his pocket. "So, what about you? It's not every day I see you sulking alone outside. What's up?"

EJ looked back inside, where Gina and Nini were laughing about something, bright smiles on their faces. "I've spent the past few months thinking that Gina actually liked me, so I finally worked up the guts to ask her out."

"That's great, man."

EJ grimaced. "That's what I thought, too, only to find out now that she thinks of me as an older brother. I guess I completely misread that, huh?"

Ricky gave a sad smile. "Look at us, forever doomed to loneliness."

"It does seem that way."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ricky stood up. "Alright, come on. We can't just wallow in self-pity all night."

"Why not?" EJ sighed dramatically.

"Well, I can see a pepperoni pizza in there just waiting for us to demolish it."

EJ grinned, finally motivated to follow Ricky back inside. It seemed like nearly everyone had managed to find love through the school musicals this year, with all the couples holding hands and sharing pizza, but the boys tried to look past all the romance and just enjoy the night.

Once the pizza had all been finished, Miss Jenn got up to make an announcement.

"So, I know we decided to drop out of the Menkies and our musical is officially over, but there's still a few weeks of school left and I was thinking of giving you all one last project to work on before summer. It's completely optional, of course, but I think it'll be a fun way to practice conveying emotions through your performance."

EJ raised an eyebrow at the following silence. "Are you gonna tell us what it is, or...?"

"Right, yes! I want you all to perform a cover of a pop song that you can truly relate to. It doesn't matter how, as long as there's some emotion to it. The goal is to get across a full story and feelings through your voice without relying on blocking. How does that sound?"

Nini answered, "I think that's a great idea, Miss Jenn. It'll be a nice way to end the year."

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest of the group.

"Wonderful! We'll perform two weeks from today, so start thinking about your songs now."

The room started to buzz with discussion on everyone's possible song choices for the project. Ricky turned to find Nini standing at his side with a cautious smile.

"So... any idea what you're gonna sing?" Nini asked.

Ricky chuckled. "No clue. I'm not exactly sure what songs I can 'truly relate to' yet. What about you?"

"I'll probably go for a ballad of some sort. Should be easy to get the emotions in there."

"Yeah. Very emotional."

They fell into an awkward silence, neither sure of where to go from there. The past few months had been a rollercoaster for their relationship and they still weren't quite back to normal.

"Hey," Nini piped up after a few moments. "Would you maybe wanna come over to my place tonight? We could have one of our sleepovers like we did back in middle school and help each other decide on songs to sing." She seemed hopeful, like Ricky was, that things between them could go back to the way before all the drama.

"That sounds great."

After checking with both their parents for permission, Ricky and Nini found themselves sitting on Nini's couch in their pajamas while they discussed possible songs for their projects.

Ricky's eyes scrunched at Nini's last idea. "Isn't that kind of depressing?"

She gasped in mock-offense. "It's inspiring! Besides, Miss Jenn said to pick something emotional."

"I mean, technically, she just said something that we could portray our emotions through."

Nini rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter what you think, anyway. It's my decision, and I think that human is a perfect song for the assignment. Enough about me, though. You—" she pointed at him accusingly "—still haven't come up with a single song."

Ricky raised his arms in surrender. "Fine, fine. Just give me another minute."

"No."

"No?"

"Just pick a song that resonates with you. Go!"

He scrambled through his mental music library for something that felt right. "Photograph."

"Ed Sheeran or Nickelback?" She joked, and he threw a pillow at her.

"Ed Sheeran."

"And why?" Nini questioned.

"Um... because I can better connect with the Ed Sheeran song?"

She threw the pillow back at Ricky. "I mean why does it resonate with you."

"Oh," he drew out the word. "That makes a lot more sense."

"You think?"

"I guess I picked it because even when things get hard, I'll always have pictures and memories to remind me that my family still cares."

She smiled. "Good choice."

They were slowly shifting back into their old rhythm as the night went on, and Ricky felt relieved that he was able to mend at least one of his many broken relationships.