The Other Bowen || Nini Salazar-Roberts

the rose song

Nini's pov

"Hey. Kourt." I waved Kourtney over to my table.

"Neen, I'm on the clock." She told me.

I waved her over to me again and she rolled her eyes before walking over to me. "You are totally in love with Howie, the pizza guy."

"Uh, remember how I said I didn't want any boy drama, ever?" Kourtney said.

I smiled. "You're not denying it."

"I'm not confirming it. Nini, I'm way too busy to add having a crush to my to do list." She told me.

"So you do have a crush!" I exclaimed.

Kourtney hushed me and sat down in the seat across from me. "Look, I don't know anything about this dude. What if he has a girlfriend or feels weird because we work together? I am kind of his boss. What if he's not even into me?"

"Kourt, he drove through an ice storm to give you flash cards. It's called a sign." I said.

"I mean, he's good at his job. It probably didn't have anything to do with me." She came up with an excuse. "See, Neen, this is so not me. I'm using way too much brain space figuring out what some guy thinks of me."

"But, Kourt-"

"No." Kourtney said before clearing her throat. "So how's the song going?"

"It's fine." I said before my phone chimed with another text from Lily. "Just a few distractions."

"Oh, this is like ten texts in a row from Lily." Kourtney noted as she looked at my phone.

"I know. I sent her a selfie of me eating pizza." I said.

"Okay."

"And she was like, 'why are you eating pesto and not Hawaiian?'." I continued.

"Okay?"

"And I texted back that I only eat Hawaiian because she likes it. And now she thinks that I'm 'changing'." I told her. "Which is to say, the song's going great."

"Uh, you don't have anything written down." Kourtney glanced down at my notebook.

"I don't. But I will once you tell Howie you like him." I smiled.

"The fate of our musical should not be dependent on whether or not I talk to some stupid guy." Kourtney replied and I tilted my head. "Fine, I'll think about it."

Lily's pov

We all sat in the bomb shelter again the next day to continue doing our character work. Miss Jenn walked into the bomb shelter with a clipboard in her hand.

"Five questions to really know someone's character. Today, I want you all to go fully method. Stay in character for this entire exercise. I want each of you to come to the front of the room, I'll prompt you with a question and you'll answer in character." Miss Jenn explained before looking at EJ. "Gaston, let's start with you."

Ashlyn clapped as EJ stood up from his seat and walked to the front of the room.

"Question one. If you had to pick one book to live inside, what would it be and why?" Miss Jenn asked.

"Ooh. Uh... Like a book of etiquette. You know, cause Gaston could really use some manners, always spitting and shooting stuff. Like, chill, Gaston." EJ answered causing us all to laugh.

"Love that. Okay." Miss Jenn laughed. "What would you ask your future self?"

"Oh, trick question. Gaston's dead." Ricky called out.