All Too Well || Caswen

IV. Begin Again

 Thinking all love ever does is

Break, and burn, and end

But on a Wednesday, in a cafe

I watched it begin again

"Hi."

"Hi."

The auditorium was empty now, leaving Ricky and EJ alone with their nerves. The boys were struggling to look anywhere but each other.

"So..." Ricky started, "Nice song."

"Yeah. You, too."

"Thanks. Bye." Ricky started walking away in a rush.

"Wait."

Ricky froze in his tracks and EJ kicked himself for stopping him. He didn't want to talk any more than Ricky did.

It was too late to take back his words, so he went on, "Can we start over?"

Ricky turned back to EJ, confused. "What?"

EJ took a deep breath before continuing, "I know we've had our... issues, but I thought maybe we could have a do-over or something. Start fresh, you know?"

"As friends?"

"Or at least, not as enemies." EJ anxiously waited for Ricky to react, wondering if that had been the right thing to say. He nearly sighed aloud when the boy smiled.

"I think I'd like that."

"Cool."

It was silent for a moment until EJ's phone rang, making both of them jump.

EJ picked up the call, "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Ashlyn's voice came through the speaker.

"Uh, school?"

"Do you know if Ricky's there, too? Nini's been looking for him."

"Yeah, he's here."

"I'll let her know, but you guys better hurry up. Everyone else is at Slices already."

"Don't worry, I'll be there in a minute." He hung up without waiting for a response and turned to Ricky. "Apparently, everyone's waiting for us."

"Oh. Guess I'd better get going, then."

EJ saw him glance down at his skateboard. It would probably take a while for him to get to the restaurant and EJ found himself offering, "I can give you a ride if you want."

"That would be great."

The trip to Slices was quiet, with an air of both awkwardness and relief falling over the boys. When they arrived at the restaurant, the party seemed in full swing.

As soon as they entered, Nini rushed up to Ricky. "Ricky, you're here! What happened up there? That was neither Ed Sheeran nor Nickelback."

EJ was thoroughly confused by her statement. Sure, he probably shouldn't have been listening in to his friends' conversation, but his curiosity got the better of him (and it was really on them for talking in the middle of a party), so he stood casually a few feet away and tried to not look like he was actively eavesdropping.

"Nope," Ricky responded.

"So, when were you going to tell me about your song change?"

Song change? Were they talking about the performance?

"It was kind of a last-minute thing."

Nini raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You mean you didn't plan that?"