I Understand Now (Ricky Dillon Fanfiction)

Chapter 21

Ellie's POV.

"If only I had an Ellie Waters back at my LA school," Ricky laughs, making happiness wash over me. I bite my lip and glance down at my feet, unsure of how else to react to the romantic statement.

"You know, it feels good to finally have someone in my life that talks to me that way," I admit, looking back up at Ricky. "I've spent my entire life thinking that true love only happens in movies and books." I shrug. "Guess I've been wrong my entire life."

Ricky chuckles. "And I've spent my entire life thinking I would never find anyone that loved me for me," he says. "I guess I've been wrong too." I laugh and press my lips to his. The kiss only lasts for a short moment before I pull away. It's only at that moment that I remember we are in a classroom, and I cover my mouth with my hand.

"Do you think someone saw that?" I whisper.

"No, not at all," Ricky replies. "We're sitting in a classroom full of about 25 people, but no one saw that." It takes me until he's finished speaking to notice the sarcasm in his tone.

"Crap," I mutter, but I realise that Ricky is smirking. "Stop it," I hiss.

"What?" He asks with a laugh. "You're cute when you're angry." I playfully swat at his arm.

"Ow!" He exclaims, drawing his arm back sharply. "That hurt," he says in a fake upset voice while pouting at me. I stick out my tongue at him and he laughs.

"Ricky, Ellie," the teacher scolds, glaring at us. "I trust you're discussing your work." She looks at us over the top of her glasses, which are for some reason always situated on her nose.

"Yes, Mrs Miller," I assure her. "We are." Mrs Miller somehow falls for it and diverts her attention back to her computer screen.

"Nice one," Ricky praises. "But now that she mentions it, we should probably get back to work."

...

After 'getting back to work'-which in our language means telling each other jokes and occasionally working out the answer to a question-Ricky and I head back up to our lockers to put our books away and get our stuff for lunch. Once I've done that and taken a roll out of my bag, I walk over to where Ricky is standing outside his locker waiting for me.

"Library?" He suggests.

"Where else?" I joke, making him laugh and roll his eyes before walking with me down to our favourite place to hang out. We're not allowed to eat in the library, so we sit outside the door while eating our lunch.

"I'd say we were very productive in class today," Ricky jokes. I laugh.

"Yep," I agree sarcastically. "We're definitely ready for the test next week." Ricky widens his eyes.

"There's a test?" He asks, and I burst out laughing.

"I was joking!" I exclaim, making him elbow me in my side.

"Oi," I scold, elbowing him back before we both laugh. Just as we finish laughing, the devil herself arrives, about to walk into the library, but not before she spots us.

"Having fun, are we?" Jen sneers. "You two are such a cute couple, really."

"Thanks for that, Jen," I beam. She just rolls her eyes and heads into the library. I glance over at Ricky.

"Someone's got a stick up her butt," he sighs.

"Mmm-hmm," I agree.

Once we both finish eating, we go inside the library and sit down near the back where no one can see us. Ricky wraps one of his arms around my waist and holds me close to him, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Do you think Jen will ever get over this whole thing?" I ask him after a moment.

"I honestly don't know," he replies. "I do think she's being a little overdramatic about this whole thing, but hopefully she'll come around eventually. She just needs to realise that Sarah was messing with her, and none of this is your fault. People like Sarah have that effect on others."

I sigh. "Can't disagree with that," I say. "Look, there she is now." I point to a table where Jen is sitting, laughing and smiling like none of this ever happened.

Of course that's because she's with Sarah.

"Obnoxious little brat," Ricky mutters. "How can she not see Sarah for who she really is?" I want to act annoyed, but I can't help but smile when I notice how many S's were in the sentence he just said.

"Don't worry about it," I say, sitting up so that I can face him. "You know, sometimes I think it's kind of cute how you act as though all of my problems are yours as well."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for you," Ricky says, placing a hand on my arm. "I want to support you, because I love you."

"I know," I laugh, and smile as I lean forwards to kiss him. He pulls me closer to him by placing his hands on my hips, and I wrap my arms around his neck. I feel him smile against my lips and I pull away slowly. Our moment is rudely interrupted by a scrunched up piece of paper thrown at my head.

"Ouch," I groan, and open up the piece of paper. Three words, accessorised with arrow hearts and flowers, are written on it.

Ooh la la!

I scowl and look in the direction the paper came from, and sure enough, Jen is covering her mouth and laughing while Sarah winks at us. I roll my eyes at their immaturity and show the paper to Ricky, who does the same thing. At that moment, I notice that Jen is walking towards us, with a smirk that reminds me too much of Sarah for my liking.

"I see you guys are getting pretty serious," she remarks, sitting down on the floor opposite us.

"Yeah," Ricky replies. "What's it to you?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm happy for you," Jen says with a smile, which surprises me.

"Seriously?" I ask. Surely she's messing with us.

"Seriously," Jen answers. "I know how rude I was about it before, and I'm sorry. I guess I can get a little caught up sometimes, but I'm over it now."

I'm lost for words. I'm still annoyed at her that she hasn't admitted that Sarah is behind this whole thing, but relieved that she's come clean about how rude she was.

"That's good to hear," I say. "So, are things cool between us now?"

"Of course," Jen replies. She turns to Ricky and smirks again. "And things are definitely cool between us two. Aren't they, Ricky?" My breath catches in my throat.

"What?" I glance over at Ricky, who is looking at me with an apologetic expression. "Don't tell me-"

"It's a long story," Ricky says. "Please just let me explain."