𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - 𝗘𝗝 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹²

#02

"You can bet on me." Autumn was speechless as she walked down the stairs to Big Red's basement, walking in at the end of what seemed to have been a pretty passionate performance of Bet On It by the way Ricky was panting.

"Hey guys." She greeted, sitting down on one of the puff chairs next to Red. Turning to the ginger, she questioned. "Why is Ricky singing Bet On It in your basement at three in the afternoon on New Year's Eve?"

Big Red laughed at her comment, glancing at a still-recovering Ricky. "Miss Jenn is going to announce the next musical tonight and he thinks it's going to be High School Musical 2."

That seemed to break Ricky out of his daze, and he took a seat next to them. "It's gotta be High School Musical 2, right? I mean, Miss Jenn's obsessed with the trilogy."

She hummed in agreement, looking at him with a faux-offended expression. "And you're planning on stealing my boyfriend's part?"

The brunette boy's eyes widened at her question, and he quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, that wasn't my intention, A, I don't want to-"

He watched as Autumn's face lit up in amusement, and he interrupted himself, his expression turning grumpy.

"That wasn't funny." He grumbled.

Shooting him an apologetic smile, she leaned forward, placing a gentle hand on his knee. "Sorry, Rick, I was just messing with you. But really, if you wanna audition for Troy, I won't mind. I don't EJ will either."

Ricky's face softened, and he smiled at the girl in gratitude before clearing his throat, his attention turning towards Big Red. 

"So, what did you think?" The curly-haired boy asked.

"You're totally gonna get the part. You look like Shawn Mendes, and you sing like Shawn Mendes." Big Red responded, a somewhat wistful look on his face. "If I looked like that and sang like that, I... Whatever."

Autumn tenderly nudged the ginger's shoulder. "Don't 'whatever' us, lover boy. Don't you have this new thing going with Ashlyn?"

The girl was well aware of how enamored Red was with the Caswell girl, of course, everyone was. But ever since he sent her flowers on opening night, the interactions between the two seemed to be less frequent.

Autumn deduced they were both feeling shy and wanted to take their time to explore their bubbling romance, but she also felt they had been dancing around each other for far too long.

"I'm psyching myself up to kiss her at the party. At midnight." He admitted, an adorable crimson blush overtaking his cheeks.

Ricky frowned at his friend's words. "I thought you guys already kissed once."

"I don't know if that one counted." Red countered.

Autumn glanced between the two boys, utterly confused, before her face lit up with a gentle smile, and she grabbed Big Red's hands. "What? You guys kissed? When did this happen?"

"It was opening night, everything was kinda crazy, and... we kissed. But it could've been a fluke." He explained.

Before the girl could ask more questions, Red's mom was walking down the stairs, asking him to take up a shift in their pizzeria, a family business that Red was immensely proud of, since they were down a delivery boy.

"Tonight?" Big Red asked, disheartened by the prospect of having to spend New Year's Eve working, instead of being at the party and kissing Ashlyn as he intended to.

His mother let out a huff, indicating he wasn't getting out of his duty. "New Year's Eve is a big money-maker for us. Daddy's sciatica is acting up, and we need you!"

Autumn, who was still holding onto both of Big Red's hands, gave them a sympathetic squeeze as his mother returned upstairs - but not before throwing a soft "Hi Ricky, hi Autumn" their way.

"C'mon, Red, cheer up. You can always show up to the party after work." The girl attempted to comfort him, and luckily a small smile formed on his face.

"Yeah, you're right." He murmured before going back to his usual carefree, happy expression. "Operation Kissing Ashlyn is still on!"

"Dude, don't call it that." Ricky teased with a chuckle. Big Red simply shrugged, unaffected by his best friend's comment.

"You're one to talk, Mr. 'The perfect gift is you'." Autumn fired back with a giggle, referring to the song Ricky had written for Nini as a Christmas present.

Ricky's eyes widened and he turned to the brunette girl, his mouth agape. "How did you find out?!"

"Nini told me. Girls talk, you know." Autumn responded, shrugging.

With an embarrassed groan, Ricky collected his stuff, getting ready to leave.

Autumn giggled once more as she registered his expression, watching as he started climbing up the stairs.

"Don't worry, she loved it!" She shouted loud enough for the boy to hear before she and Red broke into a fit of laughter.

﹏﹏﹏

The Campbell girl tried to contain her smile as she watched EJ climb out of the car and rush to open her door, but the task proved to be impossible when he looked so cute in his new jumper, the one she'd gotten for him for Christmas.

"What a gentleman." She commented playfully as she accepted his hand, letting him help her out of the car. She was wearing a wool dress paired with black tight-high boots, and EJ thought she had never looked so beautiful.

"What can I say? It's in my blood." He replied just as jokingly, placing a hand on her lower back as he guided her towards Ashlyn's front porch.

She carefully knocked on the door, only to be surprised when the door sprung open a moment later, Ashlyn's figure practically tackling them both in a hug.

"My couple goals!" The ginger Caswell greeted excitedly.

"Hello to you too, Ash," EJ murmured with a chuckle, pulling away from his cousin.

"Don't mind him, Ash. I'm so happy to see you." Autumn stated, wrapping her arms around Ashlyn more tightly as EJ playfully rolled his eyes at the scene.

Pulling away with a chuckle, Ashlyn flashed her cousin an ugly face before turning back to Autumn. "I always knew you were my favorite."

"I'm wounded." EJ dramatically placed his hand over his heart. "I took you to Disneyland, and she's still your favorite."

Autumn pressed her lips in a tight line to avoid laughing, placing a comforting hand on her boyfriend's arm. "There, there, honey." She said in a soft tone.

Smiling at the two, Ashlyn opened the door wider behind her, gesturing for them to enter. "Who's ready to party?"