one time thing | ricky bowen ¹

eleven

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

leighton shut her locker and headed towards the main stairs for her last class of the day. she had been alone the entire day due to being mad at the boys she called her friends.

sure, she knew deep down there were reasons. like how she couldn't be so mad at the way ricky kept that from her. they did it to big red, but things were piling up. the one time thing was starting to ruin so much of their friendship without her really noticing.

it wasn't fair big red got a better answer than she did. going down the stairs, she heard voices echoing from the bottom. "wow, that's not an emotion i knew you had." the girl voice said. "sorry." it continued.

"i never should have stolen her phone." said the other. leighton scrunched her eyebrows and peaked from above. seeing it was ashlyn and ej, she threw her head back and continued listening. she knew it was wrong, but then again they were out in the middle of the school stairs.

the two continued speaking about how it wasn't the person ej was and how he needed to tell nini that it was him. leighton decided to stop listening and casually continued on the stairs. waving to ashlyn and not so purposely ignoring the girl's cousin.

leighton had to tell ricky it was ej who had the phone. it made sense whenever she had seen that case before and him putting his attention on to it every time she saw him. suddenly she remembered that she wasn't speaking to ricky and rubbed her temples.

maybe she can expose who it was without actually talking to him. that night she was restless. knowing she shouldn't keep this a secret from ricky, but for some reason today she had the time.

—
the next day was a learning and singing rehearsal. leighton and the other piano player will be playing as the rest of the cast sing and make notes.

it was supposed to mainly be everyone singing and stopping so they can correct what they needed to. somehow the cast sounded so well that they were able to go through nearly each song— apart from the main characters.

leighton's fingers glided against the keys and felt the beat in her heart. she loved playing the piano and finally able to do it outside of the comfort of her room felt so good.

a couple of boys walked in who were in a separate rehearsal and joined the song they were currently on. after that song ended, one of the boys who walked in came to leighton at the piano.

"not sure if you know, but ricky just nearly took out our chad." the guy said and leighton looked up from the music notes. "uhm, what do you mean? almost took out our chad?" she asked confused.

"yeah ej and ricky were rehearsing a scene and things got a little tense. miss jenn had them tossing a basketball while saying lines and ricky threw it too hard at ej's face." this shocked leighton. she knew how ricky might have felt about the boy but never thought he would try to hurt him.

leighton spoke up after a moment of silence, "oh wow, that's actually a little crazy. although i am not speaking to him currently so i don't think it concerns me as much." the boy shrugged his shoulders and said he thought she should know as he walked away to his standing area.

shaking her head and writing in notes from the last song, carlos waltzed in and asked for her to play 'stick to the status quo'. she searched for the notes and set them up. leighton didn't really need them but kept them there for any special write ins.

the cast who was there at the time started to sing. every single person getting into the song. it was very catchy and different to play the song in piano form apart from the upbeat movie version. getting close to the end the brunette heard the door open. looking back to see miss jenn and mr. mazzara watching.

"no, no, no, no. stick to the stuff you know. if you wanna be cool, follow one simple rule don't mess with the flow, oh, no." leighton turned back facing the piano and then looking up at how well the cast was singing. it was amazing.

"stick to the status quo. no, no, no. stick to the stuff you know. it is better by far. to keep things as they are. don't mess with the flow no, no. don't you stick to the status, stick to the status, stick to the status quo!" the harmonizing stopped as leighton ended with a fast note.

she looked up at carlos who was behind her and he said, "i have no notes!" the cast cheered and high fived. leighton was happy where this was going. she pushed herself out there to try new things after her dad left the earth. she didn't think she would ever enjoy anything as much as she does right now.

—
after the music rehearsal, leighton packed up her things and started towards the front of the school. she, her mom, and sister had plans for dinner and a movie so she didn't want to be stuck doing homework too late.

on her way out, she saw nini a few feet ahead of her. right behind her she heard the school door burst open and feet stomping.

ricky with his very long legs caught up to nini, not seeing leighton as he passed by. "hey nini! i have to just say something to you. i know we aren't a couple anymore. i get that, but i thought there was a little trust left between us."

leighton grew curious and slowed down her walking but got close enough and stopping a little ways from the ex couple. "i just can't do this right now." nini started before ricky cut her off. "fine okay? but the voicemail you got from me, it was not for you." he too started but also got cut off by his former best friend.

"it was for me, nini. sorry i don't mean to like interrupt or make notice i was eaves dropping, which i seem to be doing a lot of, but the voicemail was for me." leighton said getting closer. "yeah it was meant for leighton. i must have clicked your name instead. please just, do me a favor and keep it to yourself." ricky started and continuing, super frustrated.

"i don't need to hear from ej his little comments. it wasn't meant for you and i would have told you that before but i didn't. he didn't need to know what accident i made." nini looked confused as she glanced between leighton and ricky.

"what voicemail?" ricky made a face as he spoke up, "what do you mean? i left it a day ago. did you not see it?" "you heard this from ej?" the girl asked as the boy and other girl nodded.

leighton made the choice to come clean. "i also heard him admit he had your phone. he said it out loud while i was walking the stairs. this was yesterday." ricky looked at leighton. beginning to feel upset she didn't tell him right away.

even though they weren't speaking again, it would have saved ricky the trash talk from ej. nini looked away and had saw ej standing by the buses and shook her head. "i need to go. thanks." was the last thing they heard before seeing her walk away. the 'thanks' mainly directed toward leighton.

ricky took the chance to try and speak to leighton before she sent him a tight lipped smile and going around him. "wait wait wait. why didn't you tell me you knew about it?" ricky asked holding her arm, she still facing towards the cars.

"oh you mean how i kept something from you? does that ring a bell? in anyway, ricky?" leighton said snatching her arm from his grasp, rubbing it in hopes the warm feeling he sent through her body would disappear.

ricky stared at her as she turned and walked to her car. her being angry with him was making him regret his decision to keep it from her. even more than before. he hated the fighting they had going on, but he was the center of it.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
delia notes: the back and forth fighting is so funny to me. i am sooooo excited for next episode :)