HSMTMTS one shots {Rina, Madlyn, Seblos}

Hurt Less pt. 3 (Rina)

Part 4 coming soon! I honestly don't know how many parts there will be. Maybe 8 or less..?

Ricky's POV
I was determined to find out what was going on with Gina. I walked down the hall today holding Nini's hand. We're just friends, but friends can be like that. We can decide how we want to show affection.

We walked into the rehearsal room later that day for Beauty and the Beast. I saw Gina standing in the corner on her phone, looking absolutely and utterly miserable.

"Gina! What's up?" I asked, approaching her.

"A lot of things. The ceiling, the sky, stars, I could go on, but I won't torture you."

I had a feeling it wasn't about her sarcastic comment anymore. She didn't think I cared to hear it about her current problems.

"Please tell me you're okay."

She stared at me blankly. "I'm okay."

Then she just walked away.

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"Anyone want to hang at my place for a bit? We were gonna go to Ash's, but her mom has a book club over now." Big Red explains.

"I'm in." I said, eager to see Gina, who Ash would probably force her over there whether she wanted to go or not.

Most people agreed, and we decided who was going in who's car. There was Ashlyn, Big Red, Kourtney, Nini, EJ, Gina, Carlos, Seb, Stef, Rico, and Kaden are going over.

Only Nini, EJ, Big Red, and I can drive, and Nini doesn't have a car she can use today. When Big Red recently got a new car, his parents let me have his old bug that was recently paid off.

EJ was driving Seb, Carlos, and Kourtney. Big Red is driving Ashlyn, Nini, Stef, Rico, and Kaden. That leaves one with no ride.

Gina.

I couldn't help but think it was our friends being their usual selves, and it was purposeful.

"I can just walk, Ricky, it's fine." Gina said in a raspy tone. She couldn't even look at me.

"No, Gina." I grabbed her wrist.

"Ricky, let go." She said lowly.

"I'm driving you. It's getting dark."

"Ricky, I don't need a babysitter."

"Gina, please just listen. I don't want this to offend you at all, but I have to say it. Gi, you're a fifteen year old girl, and to put it bluntly, you're really pretty, and I don't want anyone to take advantage of you."

"You think I'm pretty?" She finally looked up at me, swallowing deeply.

"Yeah. You're beautiful."

"I can't do this," I heard her mumble. "Let's just go."

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"So, how's your day been?" I asked her, breaking the awkward silence.

"Fine. You?" She leaned her head against the passenger window, looking anywhere but at me.

"It's okay I guess. It'll be nice to hangout outside of school again, I love the no rules nights we have." I continued to look straight ahead.

"Yeah, but sometimes I just like the nights alone. I used to hate it, but living with Ash, now, I barely get those anymore. I appreciate it, I do, but sometimes there's too much going on."

"Do you talk to Ash?"

"What?" She asked. "Of course I talk to, Ashlyn. What does that even mean?"

"I mean about, like, the stuff you've got going on. Not just your day to day life."

"That's the thing, Ricky, my day to day life and the other stuff I have going on aligns. If I had a particularly hard call or text strand with my mom, I might talk to her, but there's one thing I don't really talk to anyone about."

"Boy drama?" I asked jokingly. When she didn't respond, I looked towards her to see that she had. Nonverbally.

She was nodding.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." She repeated. And we were silent again.