one time thing | ricky bowen ¹

six

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leighton impatiently tapped her foot as big red and ricky disappeared ten minutes ago into the boys restroom. they told her to wait until they came out and she immediately regretted it once she realized how long they were taking.

she wanted to hurry up and go get her measurements for the costumes she will be wearing but the boys were stopping her from doing so.

the girl sighed and banged on the door of the bathroom. "guys! seriously, ricky and i need to go get costume measurements— like twenty minutes ago. i will not make a fool of myself for being late to the read through as well!" she said still banging on the door.

seconds later her best friends emerged from the door with a strong scent flowing out with them. "whoa what the hell, what is that?" she said fanning the front of her face as it seemed to only get stronger.

ricky grabbed the bottle big red held in his hand and shoved it in the girl's face. "it's throb! remember that cologne i got at the mall with nini? and she really liked it? and you said you did too.."

still trying to get the scent away from her face she nodded and proceeded to say "yes ricky,but only when the smell wasn't as strong as a perfume store. i think you went overboard on this"

big red jumped in, "it's just so nini can smell it while they work together. i just went along with it because i like pressing the little sprayer!"

leighton rolled her eyes at the fact ricky sprayed it in every area on his body but pushed them towards the drama department. clearly done with their antics.

—
as the trio entered the room, the boys took off to get ricky's script book he failed to pick up after getting the role of troy.

leighton was heading to the assigned seat as kelsi, but noticed ej was standing near his chair switching the 'troy bolton' and 'chad danforth' signs. obviously to be next to nini. she glared at him as she saw him turn around to look at his cousin ashlyn.

she saw her give him a look and he slightly rolled his eyes and switched back the signs. not happy with not being able to sit next to his girlfriend. leighton still kept an eye on him in case he did anything while ricky sat next to him.

"could everyone take their assigned seats please?" miss jenn spoke as leighton dropped her backpack and made herself comfortable in the seat. she saw ricky and big red walking towards the chair, but not before miss jenn asked big red if he could be stage manager.

the boy took his seat next to miss jenn and leighton. "how did i manage to get put into this?" he questioned turning to leighton.

"that's kind of what you get for being a good friend and helping ricky out with nini" she laughed as miss jenn started her 'encouraging' speech.

she explained everyone will become a family and the tension felt so thick not even a knife could cut it. leighton kept glancing at ricky and nini to see if ricky would do some sort of move.

miss jenn asked everyone to hold hands for this speech as leighton and big red turned their heads to see ricky and ej hesitating to hold hands. ricky had a grip on nini's, clearly happy to be holding her hand. but nini looked very uncomfortable.

"feel each other's energy. let the silence speak volumes. in a world full of no, this space is a full of yes."

while carlos was pleased with what miss jenn said, leighton could not help but stifle a laugh. it sounded ridiculous, normally she would never be rude but she couldn't help it this time.

by the time the girl knew it, her director started singing 'we're all in this together'. this was it for leighton as she let go of big red's hand and the person next to her. she put her hands to her face while shaking her head. praying her laughs don't come out of her mouth.

big red gently hit her on her side so she would not make him laugh either. this was probably making big red regret everything he had done before walking into the drama department.

ricky turned his focus towards his best girl friend and noticed how red in the face she was from holding in her laughter. he cleared his throat for her to take her hands off her face. she peaked between her fingers only to see ricky moving his head to miss jenn's singing only for leighton to let out a snort.

she covered her mouth but realized miss jenn continued her singing either way. the song finally ended as ashlyn clapped before realizing no one else did. leighton was going to have a hard time getting use to all this without laughing.

"did we join a cult?" big red asked as he slightly turned his head towards leighton. nodding her head and finally releasing the laugh she had, they proceeded to do warm up exercises.

—
don't get leighton wrong. she loved her crazy red headed friend, but reading out loud was not his strongest suit. he read the script book in fragments before finally being cut off and told how to properly read it. that didn't work either.

a break was called and leighton immediately stood up and walked towards the back of the room. she took out her phone to answer a message her mom left her. ricky appeared next to her, glaring at nini and ej who seemed to be having the time of their lives in the middle of the room.

"you're staring again ric. that won't help you with operation get the ex back." leighton said breaking the stare he was giving the new couple.

"yeah but like... it just seems like i should give up. no matter what i do she just looks right past me and suddenly she's all heart eyes for him!" ricky told leighton looking down at her. "how about you try to relax and maybe not try so hard? i said i would help you and here's a tip i decided to lend to you." she said grabbing his arm to rest her head on.

ricky just watched as she let out a sigh of content while laying her head on him. from afar, miss jenn was speaking to carlos about how the sparks between nini and ricky were not there. they were there for ricky and leighton. she saw it but needed those elsewhere.

making her way over to the teens she tapped ricky on his shoulder not occupied by leighton. "so troy, i am holding a rehearsal for a line read through. be there after school, okay?" she said and walked off. "it's ricky.." the tall boy mumbled as he watched her leave.

"so i guess you're busy tomorrow afternoon?" leighton asked removing her head. "we can watch a movie another day if you want. i got some homework to do anyways." the girl said almost upset she had to cancel plans with ricky that they made at lunch earlier in the day.

"i'm sorry, maybe you can come with me to the rehearsal. i mean you're apart of the cast so it shouldn't matter right? and then movie night." the girl agreed not knowing how the next afternoon will really go.

in reality, she wanted to talk about something. about the kiss they shared in the summer. it didn't stop crossing her mind every time she fell asleep. it was weird. she needed to let out her confusion.

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delia notes: happy thanksgiving!